What's in my food

I prefer to cook and eat in most nights, but last night I ate dinner out while I waited for my son's band practice to get out. I ate at a local Mexican restaurant that prides itself in serving healthy food. That said, I am assuming that the produce used was not organic. I had an burrito bowl with romaine lettuce, salsa, sauteed tofu, red bell peppers, onion, garlic, pinto beans, cheese and avocado. Assuming that the ingredients were conventional and therefore loaded with a variety of pesticides. It is disturbing to realize how many pesticides are used and how some of them remain with us for a lifetime. In addition, I was disappointed to learn that organic produce is not pesticide free. Some of the pesticides are absorbed in the plants roots and may come from the water source.

Lettuce has 52 known pesticides and include 3 known carcinogens, 17 hormone disruptors, 10 neurotoxins, 8 developmental/reproductive toxins, and 14 honeybee toxins.






Pinto Beans have 2 pesticides; one that is a possible carcinogen and the other is a developmental/reproductive toxin. Boscalid is an example of a pesticide that is found at almost equal amounts of time in organic (2.4%) produce as conventional (2.8%).

Cilantro had 68 pesticides which seems like a crazy high number of pesticides. Nine of these pesticides were known/possible carcinogens, 30 were suspected hormone disruptors, 12 were neurotoxins, 12 were developmental/reproductive toxins, and 18 were honeybee toxins. Amazing for a small delicious herb. The amount of pesticides measured on cilantro, including organic, are lower than the EPA's cut offs. However, zero amount of pesticides are better than any.

Red Bell Pepper was another food with lots of pesticides. Of the 53 found on red bell peppers, 3 were known carcinogens, 21 were suspected hormone disruptors, 10 were neurotoxins, 6 were developmental/reproductive toxins, and 18 were honeybee toxins. Ugh.

Avocado had only one pesticide, imiprothrin, of no listed toxic effects. Avocado has a think skin which can help protect the meat from some pesticides. I wonder, however, if avocado was exposed to some of the fat based toxins if they would store them in the meat. Avocado is high in unsaturated fat and could theoretically absorb and store fat soluble pesticides. 


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