The government’s Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF) test food products every few months for pesticide residues due to health concerns. However, they only take samples of some foodstuffs and this is by no means a comprehensive picture of exactly which pesticides (and how much of them) is in your food.
The only way to be really sure that pesticides aren’t in your food is to buy organic. We know for many this is prohibitively expensive, which is why we call for residue-free, accessible food for all. Not all pesticide-free farmers will be certified organic as this is an expensive and timely label to acquire. Shopping at local farmers markets can be one way of knowing more about your produce. However, we know this can be just as expensive and inaccessible as certified organic produce.
To help navigate the PRiF report’s findings and supermarket produce, we release a ‘dirty dozen’ report each year to highlight which produce is most contaminated. This helps consumers on more limited budgets to choose organic produce.