Some Canadians pay extra to buy organic fruits and vegetables, but a new analysis found 45.8 per cent of samples tested positive for some trace of pesticide. A smaller amount—1.8 per cent—violated Canada’s maximum allowable limits for the presence of pesticides.
The public broadcaster, CBC, analysed data it obtained from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency through Canada’s Access to Information law.
Although pesticide residues were widespread, they were found much less often in the organic produce that in non-organic samples, 78.4 per cent of which were affected.
The findings were “concerning” for Matthew Holmes, executive director of the Canada Organic Trade Association. “We see pesticide residues throughout our environment. It’s in our soil, they’re in our water, drinking water now, and there’s new reports coming out showing there’s pesticides in fetal cord blood. So unfortunately, it’s really hard to have a zero pesticide residue any longer,” he said. He added that the amounts of pesticide found were very low. They are well below levels considered toxic.
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