On the heels of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) residue report last week, the U.S. Department of Ag (USDA) immediately follows with its annual Pesticide Data Program (PDP) results and it is more good news for consumers.

As the USDA report has shown consistently over previous years, in 2024, more than 99 percent of the commodities sampled had residues well below the established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safety standards with over 42 percent having no detectable residues at all.

Parents should know that the PDP tests a wide variety of domestic and imported foods with a strong focus on foods that are consumed by infants and children.

Of the total samples tested (9,872 samples), fresh and processed fruit and vegetables accounted for 9,165 samples or 92.8 percent of the total. Fresh and processed fruit and vegetables tested during 2024 were: apples, avocados, blackberries (fresh and frozen), cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, head lettuce, leaf lettuce, onions, oranges, pineapples (fresh and frozen), potatoes, canned pumpkin, sweet corn (fresh and frozen), and tomatillos.

While the FDA and USDA reports are great news for consumers because they verify the safety of the most affordable and accessible produce, they also show the exceptionally high level of compliance among fruit and vegetable farmers with all the stringent laws and regulations governing pesticide use.  The FDA and USDA results clearly show the commitment of farmers to grow safe and healthy fruits and vegetables for consumers and their own families as well.

Still concerned about residues?  Try using the pesticide residue calculator, which is based upon an analysis by toxicologists with the University of California’s Personal Chemical Exposure Program.  This analysis found that a child could consume hundreds to thousands of servings of a fruit or vegetable in a day and still not have any health effects from residues, which illustrates how low residues really are, if present at all.  The calculator allows you to choose from over 20 produce items and your preferred demographic (man, woman, teenager, child) and see how much produce you could eat in a day.

Another easy tip – wash them.  The FDA states that washing produce under running tap water can reduce and often eliminate any residues that may be present.  You can learn more about washing produce here.

Read, learn, choose but eat more organic and conventional produce for better health and a longer life.