Disclosure: Thank you to CropLife Canada for financially supporting this blog post so I can continue to do the work of bringing the latest evidence on nutrition and food science to you. All opinions are my own and are genuine. 

As a registered dietitian, I regularly help families make better decisions about nutrition, but I also field questions and concerns about food production, too. One of the most common topics I address involves pesticide residues on vegetables and fruit grown in Canada, as well as imported from other countries.

As a new mom to twins, I understand the concerns that you may have about your food. Like any parent, I want to feed my young family food that is nutritious, safe, and fits within our grocery budget. Furthermore, I’m a Canadian-born Chinese dietitian who always encourages families to enjoy culturally significant produce, including fruits and vegetables that may be imported from other countries outside of Canada.

With so much information online claiming that produce is unsafe and contaminated with pesticides and toxic chemicals, what is the truth? First, let’s discuss:

Why pesticides are used on food

Agricultural pesticides, which include insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, are used in both conventional (also known as modern) and organic agriculture. Farmers use these tools and technologies to protect crops from insects, weeds, and diseases. Some of the other benefits of pesticides include:

• Reducing crop loss by up to 50%
• Improving the quality and safety of food grown
• Reducing food waste and keeping costs lower 

While these benefits are important for farmers and consumers alike, it doesn’t answer the question of whether pesticide residues on food are safe for you and your family.

Are pesticide residues on food harming your health?

Many people are unaware that pesticide usage in agriculture is highly regulated. In Canada, Health Canada sets the amount of pesticide residues allowed to remain on food, called Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs). MRLs are set based on scientific evidence, following rigorous assessment of risks. MRLs are also set at levels far below the amount of pesticide residue we know has no impact on health. 

Technology used to test for pesticide residues has become quite sophisticated where small amounts of pesticide residues can be detected. However, just because a chemical (or residue) is present doesn’t mean it has an impact on health. With any ingredient, chemical, or substance present in a food – it’s the dose that makes the poison!

Scientist testing for pesticide residues. Image credit: Science and Innovation, Government of Canada.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the agency responsible for regulating food and protecting the health of Canadians, monitors and enforces these limits. The CFIA conducts annual pesticide residue reports on all produce. In any case where residues above the MRLs are detected, the CFIA will complete an investigation. The amount of detected pesticide residue is also compared each year to note the trend of compliance of pesticide residues, and to ensure it is being followed year after year. 

According to a recent report over 99% of Canadian grown produce and 99% of imported fruits and vegetables test well below the MRLs. Ranges for the past 16 years show the residue compliance to be within 97.38-99.97%. This report is available for download through the CFIA website. 

But how much pesticide residue is safe?

To give you some insight, when I say the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) levels are low, I mean they are really low. If you are concerned with how much pesticide residue is on your fruits and vegetables, this is a pesticide residue calculator you can use that calculates how much you would need to eat in order for the pesticide residue to reach a level with a potential impact on health. For example, a child could consume 340 servings of apples in one day without any effect, even if the apple had the highest pesticide residue recorded for apples by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). For an adult woman, that number is 850 servings per day! So you don’t have to worry about pesticide residues, because if you’re eating that many apples, you probably have other issues! Jokes aside, understand that terms like “dangerous chemicals” and “toxic pesticides” are meaningless, and often appear alongside fear-based nutrition misinformation, which is intended to  mislead you.

This pesticide residue calculator and information provided on the website is provided by the Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF), a non-profit organization formed in 1989 that  represents organic and conventional farmers of fruits and vegetables.

But isn’t organic food better? 

Buying organic food is entirely a personal choice. If choosing organically grown food fits your budget and your values, then buy it. Organic food often has a higher price point because organic farming doesn’t use many of the modern tools that conventional farming uses. Not using these tools often means less yield of the final product, while requiring more land and resources to produce food. This is why when you’re at the grocery store, you will often find organic lettuce to be more expensive than conventionally grown lettuce.

But isn’t organic food healthier? 

The short answer is: no. Many scientific studies have been done comparing the nutritional quality of organic vs conventionally grown produce.  The consensus in the literature demonstrates that while there may be differences in specific nutrients between some conventional and organic foods, overall, there is no significant nutritional advantage to eating organic. Organic and conventional produce are both equally nutritious.

This brings me to the bigger issue: The majority of people do not consume enough vegetables and fruit in a day. I say this as a registered dietitian with over 10 years of experience, but evidence also backs this up. In Canada, a study showed adults aged 19-50 years old consumed about half the amount of the 7-10 recommended servings as per Canada’s Food Guide. Most Canadians also only consume half the amount of 25-38 grams of recommended fibre intake per day. Important for overall health, dietary fibre comes from vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes and whole grains.

With that said, the focus should not be whether  vegetables and fruits are organic, but whether you are consuming enough of them. Choose whatever is most affordable and accessible to help you meet your vegetable and fruit intake for the day.

But what about imported foods? 

My nutrition focus is celebrating cultural cuisine from around the world, so of course imported foods are important! Due to our climate, Canada cannot grow all of the fruits and vegetables we like to enjoy year round and we must import some foods. If no foods were imported, there would be no dragon fruit or pomelo in the grocery store. Imported food gives you access to a variety of delicious and nutritious fruits and vegetables and allows for consistent access to more affordable food. 

Produce imported to Canada is also safe. The same MRL standards are also monitored by Health Canada on imported fruits and vegetables. This is why your imported cultural fruits and vegetables should still be a part of your diet!

The bottom line 

Both domestic and imported fruits and vegetables, whether grown conventionally or organically, are safe to eat. Pesticide residue levels are set far below any amount known to cause harm. The bigger issue is getting you and your family to eat enough produce for better health.  The goal is to consume more fruits and vegetables, whether homegrown, conventional, organic, or imported. Simply rinse all produce under running water and it’s safe and nutritious to eat!