Heard that most of the chemicals is going out with the pulp when juicing. Some of it are still inside the vegetable though, because the spray comes on the earth and goes up inside the root, I imagine. Can anyone confirm this?

Some sprays are systemic which means the spray lands on the leaf and is drawn all through the plants vascular system to kill the entire plant or, if not to kill the plant, then to kill insects which will subsequently feed on any part of the plant.

It depends what has been sprayed and when as to how much remains 'in' the plant. Certainly a certain residue of some sprays is on the skin and can be washed off.

I wouldn't have thought the spray was in the fibre but in the soft tissue of the plant where the vessels are - will explain in more detail if you require it later(in a hurry sorry)

Perhaps a better question is even if under a worst case scenario, some of the pesticide, systemic or otherwise, partitions to the juice, do you need to worry about it? I think under the best science we have, probably not. [onlinelibrary.wiley.com]

Addendum, limited data showing in one example the pesticide residues partitioned to the pulp (tomatoes were the fruit). [books.google.com] Some twin gear juicer vendors have made similar claims. But will need more time to evaluate. On the other hand.

Cancer rates for people eating more vegetables, conventional or organic, go down, not up. The rate of exceedences for health tolerances in general is very low. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons to buy organic, esp when the price is favorable. But buy local and in season first, wash always and eat in confidence that eating raw vegetables will virtually never increase your risk of disease and will usually decrease it. Yours in health.

Paul



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2011 06:50PM by pborst.

Addendum. Some further reading, most of it does go to the pulp, but it does depend on the water solubility of the pesticide. The higher the water solubility of the pesticide residue, the more of it ends up in the juice. Diazonon was an exception, it appears. [www.tandfonline.com]

That poor article was 1998. A more recent article on peaches suggests that most of the pesticide residue for this stone fruit was peeled off. Very apeeling (and Suncloud says I have no sense of humor!! ). [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

Finally, one twin gear juicer vendor provided the following. [www.juicing-for-health.com]

So the trend is in the same general direction, juicing reduces but does not eliminate pesticide residues. Question is did they pose a risk in the first place? I will leave that for the pundits.

Paul

Paul



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2011 07:07PM by pborst.

I like your post Paul - we often miss the simple point that just eating loads of fruit and veg can only be good for us - organic or not. It's nice to be reminded of that when organic produce is just too expensive.