12 Most Contaminated Foods in the US: Organic is the Solution

Eating an apple, pear, peach or grape imported frim the United States of America (USA) may   give an image of luxury and modernity. But these fruits are among the 12 most contaminated  foods in the US. You will be ingesting toxic residue of pesticides when you eat these yummy fruits which are supposedly to provide vitamins.

Similarly, a bowl of spinach soup, a plate of  beef steak with fried potatoes, or a bowl of  beef meat balls topped with celery, also contain traces of pesticides.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the kinds of food that are contaminated based on research in 2006. In these foods, a high levels of pesticides and chemicals that high is found based on 100,000 food sample tests.

Some of these foods are not planted in Indonesia. But they are found in the market, imported from the US or other places. And because these foods are imported in their fresh from, those that arrive in Indonesia may have an even higher level of residue because of the use of fungicides and possibly preservatives to keep them fresh.

In Indonesia the government had not conducted a comprehensive test like the one in the US. But we all know that pesticides and other agrochemicals are used intensively also in Indonesia.

These are the 12 types of contaminated foods:

1. Beef, pork, and poultry
U.S. environmental protection Agency (EPA) reported that meat is contaminated by levels of pesticides higher than vegetable products. Pesticides and the chemical is soluble in fat and accumulate in fatty tissue of cattle.

In addition, antibiotics, drugs, and hormones that are often used in animal farm can also accumulate in meat that are often consumed by humans. Meanwhile, freshwater fish products have also been reported from exposure to the pesticide-contaminated water.

2. Milk, cheese and butter
As in the case of meat products, milk products such as cheese and butter, also contain the accumulation of pesticides.

3. Strawberries and raspberries
In general, 300 pons pesticides spread on every acre (0.4 hectares) of strawberries, raspberries, and cherry fields. Strawberry farmers typically use 36 different types of pesticides and 90 percent of the tested samples showed contamination of strawberry pesticides above safe levels.

4. Apples and pears
The FDA conducted tests detected 36 chemicals, half of them are neurotoxins (can cause brain damage). Meanwhile, pears also had higher levels of pesticides nearing apples.

5. Tomatoes
Farmers in the U.S. typically use more than 30 types of pesticides sprayed on tomato plants. The bad news, the thin skin of the tomato could not prevent the entry of these chemicals.

6. Potatoes
Potatoes re quite popular, but 79 percent of potatoes tested also showed high pesticide levels above normal.

7. Spinach and other vegetables
FDA found spinach as the most contaminated vegetables in the levels of dangerous pesticides. During cropping, the farmers uses 36 kinds of chemicals to avoid the attack of pests.

8. Coffee
Most coffee is produced in countries that do not have strict standards in the use of pesticides in food. In addition, the United States also exports millions of tons of pesticides, some of them dangerous and illegal use in American agriculture into the coffee-producing countries.

9. Peaches
Fruit which is juicy and has a delicious taste is also not spared from the accumulation of pesticides. Like the tomato, peach skin is also thin and can not resist the entry of pesticides into the fruit.

10. Wine
Farmers spray pesticides for a variety of different types at each stage of growth in grape. In a conventional wine farm used 35 different types of pesticides.

11. Celery
Conventionally grown celery contain high levels of pesticides. More than 90 percent of celery tested showed high levels of pesticides.

12. Pepper
Pepper plants is one species of plant where pesticides are often sprayed with 39 types of pesticide. More than 60 percent of the pepper tested showed levels of pesticide contamination.

Local Organic Products are Healthier

Conventional agriculture reduces the nutrients in food and in fact contaminate our bodies and the ecosystem. Imported, expensive products may also not be very healthy. Why consume contaminated foods? Especially when fresh and healthy organic foods are available?

Now you have a choice: locally produced organic food. Organic production process, that uses plant based  or natural fertilizers and pesticides, are now available in Indonesia. If you live in Bali, note the organic vegetables, fruits, herbs, rice and coffee offered by Satvika Bhoga (see product list). Organic Popeye spinach, bali spinach, tomato, strawberry, potato, celery and peppers are some things that are now available in Bali.

Satvika Bhoga also offers you to buy products by forming an organic community in your area. Locally produced organic products give you a choice to live healthy with your family, friends and colleague, while helping to prevent contamination in agriculture and enhancing welfare of farmers in Bali.  Make your choice now!

Source: http://medicmagic.net/12-most-contaminated-foods.html