FDA

Cilantro Apparently Loaded with Unapproved Pesticides

The culprit
The culprit Photo: mlehet/Flickr

Great, there’s another vegetable that we should all worry about: federal testing concluded that 94 percent of cilantro samples have “at least one pesticide,” and that, in total, around 34 unapproved pesticides were found. The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests a rotating selection of produce every year, and of the 14 items looked at, cilantro was the “outlier of the group.” Don’t even think that washing will help. According to the USDA, rinsing cilantro “did not remove the unapproved pesticides.” So, should you throw away all of your guacamole?

Authorities claim that the pesticides do not “always represent a health threat.” The real issue seems to be that some pesticides are approved for certain vegetables but not others. In fact, much like people have a habit of confusing herbs, there are worries that growers used the approved pesticides for flat-leaf parsley instead of the ones for cilantro. So, it’s not exactly cause to ignore the herb just yet, but you can avoid all of these issues by buying organic cilantro.

USDA testing finds 30-plus unapproved pesticides on the herb cilantro [Chicago Tribune]

Cilantro Apparently Loaded with Unapproved Pesticides