Standards ensure fresh fruits and vegetables are ripe, ready and safe to enjoy

The Bureau County Farm Bureau offers this advice about keeping produce fresh

Have you ever gotten home with a bag of fresh produce and wondered what to do with it? Do those colorful fruits and veggies go immediately in the fridge or are you supposed to wash them off first?

The short answer is that you should always wash your fruits and vegetables before eating them.

Even prewashed foods, like leafy greens, should be rinsed, according to Illinois Farm Bureau Associate Director of Food Systems Development Raghela Scavuzzo. She recommends washing produce with a hard, peelable skin ahead of time but waiting to clean off soft fruits, such as strawberries or blueberries, until right before you plan to eat them.

“We’re not talking about extensive washing – just enough to wash the dirt off and make sure it’s clean,” she said.

Farmers also play a vital role in ensuring the food we eat is grown in a safe, affordable and environmentally friendly way. With help from state and national regulatory agencies, families can focus on making memories while cooking fun summer recipes, rather than worrying about the safety of ingredients.

Under the Food Quality Protection Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes safe pesticide residue levels for commodities. Once levels are established, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) monitors them and the Food and Drug Administration enforces them.

“When all of these are put together, I think it should give consumers confidence that we are living up to food quality protection (standards),” said Brenda Foos, director for the USDA Agricultural Marketing Services Monitoring Programs Division.

USDA collects food samples from distribution centers near consumers and tests them for pesticide residue levels. Fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, dairy products, nuts, greens, honey and bottled water are examined in the program.

Nine states, including Illinois, participate in the collection process and state agencies help USDA test the samples.

More than 600 samples of 14 different commodities are tested for pesticide residue each year, totaling nearly 10,000 samples of conventionally and organically grown foods.

High-consumption commodities are rotated through the program every five years.

“We just don’t have the resources to monitor all foods every year,” said Foos.

Over the last five years combined, less than 1 percent of tested food samples showed levels that exceeded set tolerances, while nearly 99 percent remained within acceptable ranges.

“Data continues to show that when pesticide residues are found on foods, they are nearly always at levels below the tolerances for maximum residue levels that are set by the Environmental Protection Agency,” said Foos.

2019 was the first time in 30 years that the rate exceeded 1 percent. Foos said the increase, which reached 1.29 percent, was largely due to a single commodity — basil.

“Basil accounted for nearly 75 percent of the samples that exceeded the tolerance,” said Foos.

The EPA responded by revising tolerances for herbs and spices, including basil, which Foos said should alleviate any concerns.

Under the federal Food Safety Modernization Act, every farm that sells fruits and vegetables in Illinois must comply with industry standards and sanitation guidelines.

“There’s a whole list of regulations that our farms have to follow to make sure that the product is as safe as possible before it can get into your hands,” said Scavuzzo, who also serves as executive director for the Illinois Specialty Growers Association.

Training includes learning how to deal with wildlife in crop fields and how to apply pesticides safely.

“While all of the things farmers do is important, it’s just as important for consumers to wash their fruits and vegetables,” said Scavuzzo.

“It’s better to wash things off than to regret it later,” she added.

The best way to make sure your produce is safe is to talk with the farmers who grew it.

“The reason people go to U-pick farms or farmers markets is because they like getting to know the farmers who grow their food. That’s often the best opportunity to talk about why farmers make certain decisions, like choosing to raising crops conventionally or organically,” said Scavuzzo.

“At the end of the day, they’re feeding their families the same food you’re eating — food really connects us all.”