Do you know how to wash pesticides outside the apple shell according to scientific standards?

A fairly common ingredient in the kitchen can become a great solution to remove pesticides from apple shells, baking soda.

A recent study by US scientists has shown that, among the many ways to remove pesticides on apple shells, the use of baking soda is the most effective.

According to Zmescience, the team comes from University. Massachusetts, USA in which Amherst team leader compared the effectiveness of tap water, bleach solution and baking soda mixture (1%) and water in removing pesticides from apple shells.

Picture 1 of Do you know how to wash pesticides outside the apple shell according to scientific standards?
The mixture of baking soda and water is most effective in reducing pesticides.

Experiment with organic Gala apples. The group has applied thiabendazole and phosmet insecticide to the apples before starting to soak the apples in the above solutions. Each type of solution undergoes two attempts and 8 minutes of soaking before washing again with water.

The results showed that baking soda and water mixes were most effective in reducing pesticides. After 12-15 minutes, the mixture removed up to 80% of thiabendazole and 96% of phosmet from the apple peel. But there is still bad news, about 20% of fungicides and 4% of pesticides are absorbed through the apple shell inside, can not be washed.

According to the researchers, the conventional method of washing fruits using bleach within two minutes after harvest is not an effective way to completely eliminate pesticides.

Pesticides are chemicals that help plants survive and avoid vermin. Although there are no accurate findings on the impact of pesticides on health, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that pesticides can harm the developing nervous system of the fetus and children.

If it is not possible to soak in the baking soda mixture, it is best to peel

Picture 2 of Do you know how to wash pesticides outside the apple shell according to scientific standards?
If it is not possible to soak the apple in a baking soda mixture, it is best to peel it.

The group also found that the drug has thiabendazole component more into the apple shell than other insecticides. Thus, if it is not possible to soak the fruit in a baking soda mixture for at least 15 minutes, it is still best to peel it to ensure health.

The study by American scientists was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.

In the future, the method is expected to become more popular, while promoting initiatives to commercialize chemical cleaning products on fruit peels.