How To Remove 22 Nasty Pesticides from Produce w/ Baking Soda

Baking soda diluted in water is an effective way to remove specific classes of acidic pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides from produce.

A 2017 study done by Dr. Lili He at UMass was the first piece of research that found baking soda to be effective at removing toxic chemical pesticides. Her team treated apples with a pesticide and a fungicide and then compared the effectiveness of 1. baking soda solution, 2. tap water, and 3. chlorine bleach at removing the chemicals.

Baking soda complete removed the chemicals from the outside of the fruit. But the study researchers noted that 4% of the applied phosmet concentration and 20% of the applied thiabendazole concentrations penetrated into the flesh and persisted.

Since the chemical compounds are not stable in a basic (alkaline) solution, baking soda breaks them down on the surface.

America’s Test Kitchen then repeated the study themselves (adding vinegar to the comparison) and found baking soda diluted in water is more effective than water alone, Clorox bleach, or vinegar.

Baking soda can significantly reduce concentrations of the following toxic acidic chemicals sprayed onto produce including:

• Organophosphate pesticides like azamethiphos, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, dichlorvos, phosmet, fenitrothion, tetrachlorvinphos, azinphos-methyl, malathion, methyl parathion, and parathion.

• Phosphonate herbicides like glyphosate.

• Carbamate insecticides like aldicarb, carbaryl, oxamyl, carbofuran, thiodicarb, methomyl, and propoxur.

• Benzimidazole fungicides like benomyl, carbendazim, and fuberidazole, and thiabendazole.

“Some pesticides, such as carbamate and organophosphate insecticides, are particularly susceptible to breakdown in alkaline conditions. While most pesticides are either weakly acidic… so their effectiveness diminishes significantly in alkaline water, especially when the pH exceeds 8 or 9. Insecticides and miticides tend to be more affected by alkaline hydrolysis than fungicides. The water’s chemistry, specifically pH, significantly impacts pesticide efficacy, with many fungicides and insecticides losing potency in high pH (alkaline) conditions.” (source) (and “Phosphonate herbicides like glyphosate contain both phosphonic acid and carboxylic acid groups, making them behave as acids.” ~AI generated answer)

Instructions For Removing Pesticides:

• Mix 1 rounded teaspoon of baking soda with 2 cups of water for small batches.

• For larger batches of produce, double to 2 rounded teaspoons in 4 cups of water.

• You can add more baking soda to increase the effectiveness.

• Let the fruit sit for 12-15 minutes. The produce should be submerged by at least 1 inch of liquid. You can put a plate upside down on top of the produce to hold them under the water or hold them under like in the image above.

• Finally, rinse well under cold running water.

While this can remove between 60-99% of the pesticides from the outside of the fruit, as mentioned above, trace concentrations of systematic chemicals like the fungicide benzimidazole can persist in the flesh of the fruit.

That’s why it is advisable to get organic where only natural pesticides can be used for produce like:

–various berries

–cherries

–peaches

–nectarines

–all leafy greens

–grapes

–pears

–apples

–*carrots and potatoes (*I wash these because pesticides end up in the soil they are grown in)

–beans

–peppers

–tomatoes

–celery

I found another study which supported that soaking produce in a 1-3% baking soda to water solution for 8-12 minutes significantly reduced pesticide concentrations.

If you are curious to put it to the test, you can get pesticide test strips and try the baking soda solution on your produce.

Excerpts from America’s Test Kitchen.

“A Who’s Who of pesticides is therefore of concern to us all. If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones – we had better know something about their nature and their power.” ~Rachel Carson

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