Fruits, vegetables & toxins

‘Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.' (Genesis 9:3)

A Malaysian guy who claimed himself was the first-born to a young farming couple from Cameron Highlands, shared through the web his insights of the common practices of farmers there and the issue of vegetables and toxins. We all know pesticides are harmful both directly and indirectly. Pesticides that are sprayed on crops are also fed to farm animals. Residues are stored in the animals' fat and tissue, and enter our bodies when we eat the meat.

According to him, there are two kinds of chemical sprays used there, namely, the fungicides and the pesticides. The former are used to protect the plant from fungus and the latter against buds, snails, caterpillars etc. For the leafy veggie, normally less sprays are needed, especially when they are young unless there is an outbreak. Anyway, any spray at this juncture will have less harmful effects because the veggie would only be consumed many days later and the toxins could have gone. When the veggie is maturing, the farmers usually apply pesticides one week before harvest. Of course, not all farmers follow that faithfully.

The other group of plants is the beans or “qua” which can be harvested continuously for quite awhile. In order to protect the “plant” as well as the “fruit”, the farmers have no choice but to spray the plants with both pesticides and fungicides even if he is harvesting the fruits again the next day. For example, for example, if the harvesting period is 20 days, he may spray 1 or 2 times of the chemicals since the spray is only effective for a week. For long beans the harvest is on alternate days and the harvesting period is up to 35 days. Chilli and eggplants can last even longer. So for this group of beans/"qua", the chances of the fruits been contaminated with recent toxic sprays is very high. His advice is take more leafy veggie which should have less spray and for the other group of beans/"qua", try to soak them in water for a longer period. In fact, avoid eating with the “skins” or scrub them off. The risk of consuming chemicals outweighs the benefits of vitamins they may offer.

It thus appears to me, may be we should consider reducing eating those fruits that are difficult to peel or scrub, such as stairfruits, bitterguards, eggplant, beans etc.There are always substitutes in food chains. Water alone does not remove all traces of chemicals found in veggies and fruits. For people who always eating out, consuming those vegetables served by ‘mixed vegetable’ stalls don’t seem to be a wise choice. You just don’t believe how these workers washed the vegetables. In fact, they don’t even bother to wash some of them such as chilli and cabbage!

Here is one suggestion how to wash vegetables and fruits. I wonder how many of us bother to follow it consistently:-

First, fill a large bowl with warm water. Pour in 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of vinegar. Mix the solution well and put the fruits and vegetables into the bowl .Wash the outsides of them thoroughly with hands. Rinse them in clean tap water and dry them off using a towel.