Pesticides on Our Plates: Is Our Food Safe to Eat?

The FDA recently released its annual Pesticide Residue Report. As pesticides are one of the things people worry most about, I thought we should take a look at what they found. Here to help us make sense of this very technical and complex data is Dr. Carl Winter of the UC Davis. Dr. Winter is a toxicologist who researches the detection of pesticides and naturally-occurring toxins in foods and how to assess their risks. Below are highlights from our conversation. Please click on the audio player to hear the entire interview.

Nutrition Diva: As part of their ongoing pesticide monitoring program, FDA tested 7,000 foods for residues of over 700 different pesticides and selected industrial compounds. Over half of all the samples analyzed contained no pesticide chemical residues at all. 94% of samples were compliant with federal standards. That means that 6% of the samples were NOT compliant. Does that mean that they were unsafe?

Dr. Carl Winter: When higher than expected (or “violative”) residues are found, it doesn’t mean that these foods are unsafe to consume or expose consumers to unsafe levels of chemicals. The vast majority of these violations aren’t due to levels of a pesticide being higher than expected. They usually indicate the presence of trace amounts of a compound that’s been approved, but not for this particular food.

ND: Also, we should point out that these are not random samples. The FDA is purposely testing those foods that they think are most likely to be in violation—because this part of the program is not designed to assess consumer exposure to pesticides. It’s designed to ensure that these chemicals are being used as directed to control the bugs they are intended to control.

CW: Yes, this is sort of like the cop setting up a speed trap. He or she knows exactly where to set up to catch the maximum number of offenders!

ND: This year, the FDA also used some new methods to test foods specifically for glyphosate or Roundup, in response to public concerns about the presence of this chemical in our food supply. What did they find?

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