Rinsing fruit does not work

Advice to rinse fruits and vegetables before eating them simply will not wash f or apples coated with pesticide residues, research has shown.

Only dunking in a baking powder solution for up to 15 minutes will do the job, scientists found–and even then, some of the potentially toxic chemicals will be left behind.

Researchers in the US carried out lab tests of different methods used to remove two common pesticides from apples. One was the fungicide thiabendazole and the other the insecticide phosmet.

Washing with tap water removed none of the chemicals that had penetrated the skins, while a commercial bleaching agent, Clorex, only had limited effectiveness. A mix of 1 per cent bicarbonate of soda, or baking powder, and water was better at getting rid of the residues than Clorex.

The research is reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.