If you think that pesticides like insecticides are modern day inventions, you are sorely mistaken. There is evidence to show that ancient Sumerians used elemental sulfur as an insecticide to protect their crops. Even medieval farmers used chemicals like arsenic to protect their crops.
This means that from ancients our food has contaminated with pesticides. However, modern day foods are even more susceptible to contamination by pesticides and insecticides because the demand for food has increased compared to supply, and farmers all over the world are trying hard to have bumper crops.
The Environmental Working Group has formed a list of foods with the highest levels of pesticides. In fact, these foods are fruits and vegetables that we consume practically everyday. Here is a list of top 12 foods that have the highest levels of pesticide contamination:
- Sweet bell peppers
- Imported grapes
Usually any pesticide is tested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and only then is it approved for use. Here the EPA checks a pesticide for the maximum amount a pesticide can stay in or on any fruit or vegetable. And any pesticide not conforming to the maximum limit cannot be marketed. However, it is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that has the responsibility to check the levels of pesticides in and on fruits and vegetables.
According to the Environmental Working Group, the FDA does not test most of the fruits and vegetables that are marketed in the US and that is why many Americans end up consuming pesticides and insecticides that are present on and in these foods and are not on the approved-to-use list.
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