02381 Avoiding Food Pollution
Organic is something we can all partake of and benefit from. When we demand organic, we are demanding poison-free food. We are demanding clean air. We are demanding pure, fresh water. We are demanding soil that is free to do its job and seeds that are free of toxins. We are demanding that our children be protected from harm. We all need to bite the bullet and do what needs to be done—buy organic whenever we can, insist on organic, fight for organic and work to make it the norm. We must make organic the conventional choice and not the exception available only to the rich and educated. — Maria Royale, Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe
There are three primary issues with food pollution:
- Pollution involving pesticide/herbicide residues on foods, and
- Pollution involving contamination with food-borne disease germs. This is discussed in 02251.
- Plastic contamination of seafood and toxin contamination of freshwater fish.
When it comes to pesticide/herbicide residues on foods, the best solution is to eat organically grown vegetables. The problem with the “buy organic vegetables” advice, however, is that access to organic vegetables is not universal. People often cite price as a factor too, but even people using food stamps to purchase food can afford organic vegetables if they do not buy prepared foods and make meals from basic ingredients using a carefully planned menu.
OK, not everybody has the skills to do that either.
And equally OK, people can learn to do better and develop the skills to do this.
So as with most things, there are good, better, and best choices. The best choice is to buy certified organic vegetables or to grow your own. If that best choice is not possible, avoid the so-called “Dirty 20” (as identified by the Environmental Working Group) and always buy them certified organic (or grow your own if you have access to some land):
The Dirty Twenty (worst are listed first)
- Apples
- Celery
- Strawberries
- Peaches (and stone fruit in general)
- Spinach
- Nectarines
- Imported grapes
- Bell peppers
- Potatoes
- Domestic blueberries
- Lettuce
- Kale/collard greens
- Cilantro
- Cucumbers
- Grapes — domestic
- Cherries
- Pears
- Domestic nectarines
- Hot peppers
- Green beans
In this list, the EWG ranks foods in order from highest to lowest levels of pesticide residues. The ones listed on the “low” levels or the chart have high enough pesticide residues that organic will be better.
These fruits and vegetables grown with non-organic production practices are drenched with pesticides and herbicide residues. Peaches and apples run a race for worst of the worst, with testing showing combinations of as many as 57 pesticides on peaches and 56 on apples. Strawberries and domestic grapes tested positive for 14 different pesticides. 96% of celery samples tested positive for pesticide residue — and 91% of potatoes were pesticide positive. Hot peppers had been treated by as many as 97 (!!!) different pesticides and greens with 66.
Besides fruits and vegetables, Team Planet Green (affiliated with The Learning Channel) warns against non-organic rice, since there are 40 different pesticides used in its production.
Non-organic baby food is a big issue, since babies are much more sensitive to food pollution than adults (given the small size of their bodies and the immaturity of their immune systems). The best solution with baby food is certainly to make your own from organic ingredients.
The Environmental Working Group has identified a “Clean 15", where pesticide contamination is zero or minimal. The first on the list is the cleanest:
The Clean 15
- Onions
- Sweet corn
- Pineapples
- Avocado
- Asparagus
- Sweet peas
- Mangos
- Eggplant
- Domestic cantaloupe
- Kiwi
- Cabbage
- Watermelon
- Sweet potatoes
- Grapefruit
- Mushrooms
The third list is the “In-Between.” From highest to least, that list (which starts with #21 on the Environmental Working Group’s list), is as follows:
The In-Betweens
- Carrots
- Imported plums
- Imported blueberries
- Raspberries
- Imported green beans
- Summer squash
- Oranges
- Broccoli
- Green onions
- Bananas
- Cantaloupe imported
- Honeydew melon
- Cauliflower
- Tomatoes
- Papaya
- Cranberries
- Domestic plums
- Winter squash
Following this list come the Clean 15.
Contamination of Seafood and Fowl
The world's oceans are downstream from everywhere on the planet. As a result, the trash of the world is accumulating in our oceans. Plastics are everywhere and the scientific evidence is mounting of contamination of the entire ocean food chain with microplastics, tiny bits of plastic too small to see. They are bits and pieces of larger plastic items that degrade and break up in the ocean waters to smaller sizes.
When you eat ocean fish, you are likely consuming some of that microplastic, together with the toxic substances that such plastics are made from.
Pollution from sewer systems, storm water systems, power generation plants, chemical manufacturing companies, and other industrial processes pours into our domestic waters. Mercury, arsenic, and selenium are commonly found in the fresh waters of the United States and other countries and are taken up by the fish and concentrated in their flesh.
By best advice is to avoid all seafood from the ocean. Not only are there problems with contamination, we are over-fishing the oceans and endangering the survival of many species of fish.
Always check with local health authorities before eating any freshwater fish caught in your local waters.
Make your eating decisions prudently.