Most of vegetables and fruits on sale in fresh and modern trade markets are laced with pesticide residues

[Kerryd]

Hydrogen Peroxide (in a 3% solution) should be available at most drug stores/pharmacies. Just ask for ไฮโดรเจนเปอร์ออกไซด์ 3%    (Or so Google Translate tells me !)  

 

Be VERY ******** careful how you use it as there is a lot of total BS on the net about H2O2. Like this idea for washing vegetables:

All-Purpose Germ Killer

1 spray bottleful of undiluted white vinegar
1 spray bottleful of undiluted hydrogen peroxide

Spray your food first with the vinegar and then with the hydrogen peroxide. Rinse thoroughly.

 

Keep in mind that Hydrogen Peroxide is used (amongst other things) to bleach hair and clean bathroom tile grout. NEVER use ANY quantity of "undiluted" H2O2. It is sold in 3% Solutions for a reason !

 

This one is similar but the author has it right:

Vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide
The  basic method is to fill two spray bottles, one with vinegar and one with hydrogen peroxide (3%, the kind you can buy in the drug store). Spray the produce first with vinegar, and then with the peroxide, and allow to sit for a moment (scrubbing those items that need to be scrubbed), then rinse well under running water.

 

Another article says you should buy 35% (Food grade) H2O2 and dilute it yourself with distilled water (11 parts to 1 mixture) to essentially achieve the same mixture as sold in the drug stores. If you do so, again, be careful !!  

"At 30-35 %, so-called "food grade" hydrogen peroxide is caustic" (it will burn you and apparently, if poured onto something like a wooden surface, could start a fire) !

 

Make sure you know what you are doing and what you are using. There are some sites that recommend using H2O2 for almost everything and in small doses (of diluted solution) it seems to have many uses, including as a mouthwash, toothbrush cleanser and surface sanitizer.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

19 hours ago, natway09 said:

I would like to see some testing done on the veg imported from China.

You will eat Thai veg anyday

 

There was nothing in the OP report indicating where the produce and fruits they tested was grown, just the Thai outlets where it was being sold. So the OP report didn't indicate one way or the other, though for the particular products they tested, I suspect a lot of them would have been Thai grown.

 

But, a lot of the fruit in Thai markets does in fact come from China, and if you go to Makro for example and look at their frozen fruit and veggies section, it's almost entirely items being imported from China.

 

[DrTuner]

I've got 75% H2O2 in a container, used it to bleach plastics. One drop of that stuff on your skin and it burns through right away. Be careful even with the 3% stuff.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

19 hours ago, jdf2231 said:

It's almost always about money and ripening the crop as early as possible... :) I even doubt labels that say 'organic'.

 

There have been similar studies done in the past by this same group and others that specifically tested the products on Thai store shelves labeled as "organic" and "pesticide free."

 

Not surprisingly, according to those prior tests, a lot of that supposed safe (and higher priced items) on the Thai store shelves has just as much of a pesticide contamination problems as the regular stuff.

 

In Thailand, locally grown products labeled as organic and pesticide free pretty much means NOTHING!

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

14 hours ago, A Skeptic said:

Hold on a minute. This lady just criticised a basket of Thai major companies - shouldn't she get the Andy Hall treatment?

 

In past studies done by this group, AFAIR, they generally haven't named the specific businesses where they obtained the fruits/veggies to test -- just described them by category or location.

 

But interestingly, this time they did, naming the various major supermarket chains. I'm glad they finally did. But considering how Thailand operates, you have to wonder what's going to come of that kind of naming and shaming.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm really glad that groups like Thai-PAN are doing these kinds of reports/testing, as hopefully over time it will put pressure on the Thai government and the food industry to address these health issues.

 

But meanwhile, I really wish Thai-PAN would address two issues in their reporting that they haven't done, AFAIK:

 

1. To what extent, if any, traditional washing of the fruits and veggies does or doesn't remove/reduce the contamination issue? In other words, how much of the problem is surface vs. systemic (inside the fruits & veggies).

 

2. What if any evidence is there of the actual health effects of people consuming this kind of pesticide contaminated fruits and veggies? After all, ordinary Thai people have been eating this stuff day in and day out for decades. Plenty of time for even long-term issues to surface. Does the Thai population have higher rates of cancers, other stuff that might be a sign of higher than permitted levels of pesticide contamination?:

[lounger]

Two points: 

1) The article quotes 56%. that leaves a lot of high quality out there.

2) Thailand exports worldwide. I have read of two instances when goods were returned. That means there are a lot of satisfied customers.

a) Singapore rejected a load of Durian because the chemical content exceeded standards

b)Europe rejected chicken because of bird flu risk.

[JSixpack]

White vinegar is as good anything and it's dirt cheap in bulk (Makro). 1 part vinegar/3 parts water. I wash salad from salad bars in it too. Rubbing is also a big part of the cleaning. Been a study about that you can google up for yourself. You can get the rubbing effect by putting the veggies/salad in a bag w/ the solution and massaging from there. And you can soak them in that while you prepare other parts of the meal.

 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/255880-how-to-clean-fruits-vegetables-with-vinegar/

 

Been working well for me far as killing bacteria anyway. I never, ever have problems since doing this despite an awful lot of fresh veggies. :)

 

Plain water's quite good, actually; commercial veggie washes don't help a lot: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/healthy-home/3274/cfs-healthy-home/tips-for-a-healthy-home/3474/the-truth-about-produce-wash#

 

Edited October 8, 2016 by JSixpack

[mpyre]

23 hours ago, Shaunduhpostman said:

There are many things you can do to work around ending up as a volunteer snarfer downing sewer pipe loads of toxic waste from oil refineries that the chem corps package and sell to the agriculture industry as pesticides fertilizer medicine etc. 

 

There are lists out there of which fruits usually have way too much pesticide and the good fruit which don't require pesticides to grow. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if Thai farmers get suckered into buying pesticides for fruit that don't need it, but going with those fruits that don't would be a better bet. The following is probably more or less correct. I read up on it and memorized what I can buy and can't. 

 

The worst fruits are:

1. apples

2.grapes

3. strawberries

4. cherries and plums

If you have to have these fruits I have read that soaking them for 30 minutes in water and another 30 minutes in a fresh tub helps disperse some of the chemicals. I find it hard to resist grapes. I have not tried vinegar or baking soda as others have recommended and have no way of knowing of even soaking helps, but it seems to make intuitive sense, so why not soak and then wash before eating.

Fruit with thick skins are better because the pesticides can't penetrate to the fleshy part of the fruit and because we don't usually eat the their skins.

 

1. oranges

2. bananas

 

Fruit that shouldn't have any pesticides because pesticides are not needed in growing them:

 

1. guava

2. mango

3. pineapple

4. papaya

 

As for green veggies, basically grow your own or hang it up, or at least as far as I know. That said, exercising regularly, doing fasts and detoxes with effective herbs and juices that are known to be chemical free is what needs to be done. I know that I feel significantly better, higher energy levels, better concentration, better mood, weight loss after doing a couple days of juice only diets for cleansing. There is no way to avoid becoming a sponge for all of the crap everywhere. Even our furniture and the building materials of our homes, offices etc. emanate toxic fumes that we take in and accumulate. So, you have to be pro-active or risk getting ill. What I like is that you get a real lift from exercising or occasionally fasting that is tangible immediately.

 

Can you suggest some herbs and juices for detox? Tumeric and lemon or lime juice is one mixture,  but I would be interested in others...thanks.

 

[Shaunduhpostman]

I actually don't use any herbs other than psyllium husk which is simply used to soak up toxins and to help move everything through the intestinal tract when fasting with juices. I just mentioned it in my previous post because many others use herbal teas for cleansing.

 

In my own juice fasts I use the leaves off the many wild Ya Nang vines on our property the leaves of which are used to make a green chloryphyll heavy juice or broth for soups and curries  in Isaan. Ya Nang is also commonly available in Thai cities at supermarkets as well in the juice section. Personally I don't trust the quality at all and can't recommend commercially made ya nang. 

 

I very often pick about 100-200 ya nang leaves stick them in the blender with some water and then strain out the pulp. I add water again to the remaining ya nang juice and I have what is probably a mostly chemical free juice which tastes pretty good and which is said to be helpfull for helping to lose weight as well as in removing toxins. In fact I will forgo dinner tonight and have a large glass of ya nang and a plate of guava, Kiwi fruit and dragon fruit all of which are low pesticide if any at all. If I do a fast I usually do something similar. 

Edited October 8, 2016 by Shaunduhpostman

[Shaunduhpostman]

Also, if you don't like the taste of Ya Nang you can add coconut milk and again better you get coconut that you know hasn't been saturated with formalin or some other noxious chemical that Thai farmers and retailers get silly with.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm not sure that any of the news reports posted here, or any of the followups, actually posted the very good and clear chart that Thai-PAN produced on the results of their latest testing of Thai market fruits and veggies for pesticide contamination.

 

Here it is. Red means above permitted limits. Yellow means detected but not above limits. Green means not detected.

 

Looks like cantaloupe, Chinese cabbage and regular cabbage fared the best. Everything else, not so good.

 

 

 

 

[blazes]

On 10/7/2016 at 2:19 PM, ChiangraiTony said:

I recently had some testing performed and the test came back showing that I have posinious pesdicides in my system.  I've been in Thailand for about 7 years.  I do not trust the businesses that advertise as "organic."  What can one do here in Thailand to ensure that the risk of chemical contamination is minimized?  Can the contamination be neutralized in someway by doing some detox methods and if so, what can you suggest?  The pesticides levels are high and over time will impact the health of each and everyone of us.  

 

You have such faith in your doctor?  How the fk would any examination turn up "posinious pesdicides" [sic] in yr system??  

 

Sue Monsanto if the evidence is so clear.

[soalbundy]

On 10/7/2016 at 7:12 PM, Xircal said:

 

Cooking for too long removes most of the vitamins which makes the whole exercise of eating it pointless. http://www.dummies.com/health/nutrition/healthy-eating/preserving-nutrients-when-cooking-foods/

 

I'm not saying cook them twice, cook them once using two sets of water, i cook the veg for about one minuet in boiling water before tipping out the water (rain water) spaying the veg and then using fresh water continue the cooking.

[Jing Joe]

On 07/10/2016 at 11:44 AM, AlQaholic said:

See this interesting report/summary......

 

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php

It quotes cabbage and cauliflower as being in the "clean fifteen".

Dunno about that here in Oz because they both and especially broccoli are more likely sprayed every few days in the lead-up to harvest than other crops.

[Jing Joe]

On 07/10/2016 at 5:41 PM, masuk said:

New Zealand frozen vegies are pretty good too.

Sure that's about veges, but how about the pineapple industry here? Some years ago a guy told me he used to live near a pineapple processing plant near the Sunshine Coast in Qld Oz.

They disposed of the skins by a burning process (somehow) and the smoke was so toxic he became sick and had to move.  Don't know how he had the toxicity proven but he sure got seriously sick. 

Some pesticides may just coat, others may be systemic in the whole plant. How about in pineapples?

Back to to the washing solutions suggested??

Edited October 9, 2016 by Jing Joe
masuk was replying to a post advocating Australian products.

[SteveSamui6262]

Not too long ago the U.S. rejected farmed shrimp from Thailand due to high (any) levels of antibiotics contained in the shrimp.  And I was wondering why I never get the flu anymore.

[Banana7]

On 10/7/2016 at 9:01 AM, gemguy said:

True story:

I met a young Thai women at a coordinated business party put on by the Canadian chamber of commerce.

She was handing out her business cards for her family run business supplying organic rice products being pesticide free and all.

She spoke English very well and went on to tell me that her family business had been selling chemicals and fertilizers and pesticides to many farmers in her region for nearly 30 years while her parents and uncles sold a variety of agricultural pesticides.

Business had been very good all those years.

She told me her Uncle, who ran the warehouse facility and pesticides handling and blending operation, died and the cause was toxic poisoning from all the pesticides he had handled for all those years with little or next to no safe handling of all those chemicals.

She also said that they were aware of the health issues while she and her family could see and witness many of their client farmers growing ill and some of them dying while they were aware that the pesticides were the reasons or certainly a large factor.

So, after the death of her uncle her father decided they would leave that business and use their money to start all over again and stop selling chemicals and learn how to grow pesticide free rice and other food crops while canvasing the same client based areas and encouraging the farmers and their customer base to grow only organic rice and other food crops.

Eventually their family business had evolved into working with hundreds of small farmers and educating them how to grow and sustain chemical free rice crops while they would help market the natural rice product under a brand name and a farmers cooperative style organization.

When I met her she was marketing her brand name and looking for customers while she told me it was a great struggle to establish her brand and sell the organic rice products in a very competitive market that is somewhat rigged making it all the more difficult.

Point being....it was clear that herself and her family had grown a conscience and reverted back to an organic farming based enterprise and focused their efforts on helping the farmers to bring their organic products to market proving that it is not always about the money and only the money for some Thai people.

I still have her card somewhere from 6 years ago and I wish her well of course.

Cheers

What's her brand? I'd buy it, if I could find it.

 

[gemguy]

2 hours ago, Banana7 said:

What's her brand? I'd buy it, if I could find it.

 

I have her phone number listed and I actually tried to call her 1 day ago and of course that old number is not in service...so I have to go through all my business cards from 6 years ago if I want to find her name and company /  business name also.

Cheers

[fruitman]

On 7-10-2016 at 10:39 AM, jdf2231 said:

Where do you buy it from ? I'd like to know :)

 

With the subway you can go to the or-tor-kor market, there's a big shop from the Royal Project (which you can trust i assume). They sell a lot of vegy and thai produce all from those farms. Also Sizzlers sells all their vegy's in the saladbuffet. They sell organic and "normal" vegy.

 

From Australia you have to see the supermarkets like Foodland. We eat a lot of avocado's from New Zealand/australia, the Makro sells them a lot and also other fruit (imported).

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, fruitman said:

 

With the subway you can go to the or-tor-kor market, there's a big shop from the Royal Project (which you can trust i assume). They sell a lot of vegy and thai produce all from those farms. Also Sizzlers sells all their vegy's in the saladbuffet. They sell organic and "normal" vegy.

 

From Australia you have to see the supermarkets like Foodland. We eat a lot of avocado's from New Zealand/australia, the Makro sells them a lot and also other fruit (imported).

 

Re the Royal Project produce, I've often wondered if they're any different than the regular commercially produced produce sold here. I might like to think they're different when it comes to produce. But fact is, they're grown by regular, everyday Thais. And, I've never seen any independent testing of their products that proves them clean.

 

Re Sizzler's in Thailand, I don't know where they source their veggies from. But I do know, I stopped eating their salad bar after I used to begin feeling sick after eating their food. Felt fine going in, but on the way home, felt bad. Not sure what it was (chemicals, MSG, ???), but it was definitely linked to something I was eating there. Maybe they're spraying something on their veggies to help keep them fresh when they're sitting out on the buffet table... Not sure. But know how it made me feel.

 

[fruitman]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Re the Royal Project produce, I've often wondered if they're any different than the regular commercially produced produce sold here. I might like to think they're different when it comes to produce. But fact is, they're grown by regular, everyday Thais. And, I've never seen any independent testing of their products that proves them clean.

 

Re Sizzler's in Thailand, I don't know where they source their veggies from. But I do know, I stopped eating their salad bar after I used to begin feeling sick after eating their food. Felt fine going in, but on the way home, felt bad. Not sure what it was (chemicals, MSG, ???), but it was definitely linked to something I was eating there. Maybe they're spraying something on their veggies to help keep them fresh when they're sitting out on the buffet table... Not sure. But know how it made me feel.

 

 

I've never been sick from food in Thailand, not in 15 years. But that doesn't mean you can't get sick from it.

 

The saladbar in sizzlers has all vegy from the royal product they claim since some months. I can't mention who owns those farms but i know they even hire foreign experts to teach them how to grow it. What they spray or how i have no idea, i just trust them and the shops are very busy and always are being refilled nonstop. I don't see insectbites on their produce though but also don't buy the organic stuff which is in another fridge.

 

Sizzlers is constant refilling the saladbars in bkk, get tired of that guy/girl which is always standing in the way. I love to eat there though but why did they raise the price of the aussie chopped steak suddenly to 299? It was 269 for a long time, still good though and even better if it keeps the cheapskates out of their restaurants.

 

 

[balo]

I have been told that the salads that are hydroponic, grown in air , are pesticide free according to the package , so I always buy them.  Also some restaurants that specialize in healthy hydroponic salads here in Chiang Mai.  

 

So it's not all hopeless , you just need to look for it. I never buy veggies from the open markets , I need to see the labels that claims it's pesticide free, but it could be a lie of course. 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2016 by balo

[Thechook]

Same old story over and over but nothing is ever done just like the burning every year.  More important things like moving deck chairs and hassling tourists.

[jdf2231]

16 hours ago, fruitman said:

 

With the subway you can go to the or-tor-kor market, there's a big shop from the Royal Project (which you can trust i assume). They sell a lot of vegy and thai produce all from those farms. Also Sizzlers sells all their vegy's in the saladbuffet. They sell organic and "normal" vegy.

 

From Australia you have to see the supermarkets like Foodland. We eat a lot of avocado's from New Zealand/australia, the Makro sells them a lot and also other fruit (imported).

Thank you for the information. Well I got myself 6 apples for 189 THB. They have the NZ label on it. I was wanting to go a step further and verify the barcode with the company... 189 baht for 6 apples (good and sweet ones) and there are costlier ones too. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

18 hours ago, fruitman said:

 

I've never been sick from food in Thailand, not in 15 years. But that doesn't mean you can't get sick from it.

 

The saladbar in sizzlers has all vegy from the royal product they claim since some months.

 

 

OK.. thanks for the info.  I haven't been to any Sizzler for more than "some months." So last time I was there, probably was before they made the change to using Royal Project produce, if in fact they did that. I've never heard or seen of them advertising that or showing any indication in their restaurants, at least in my past visits.

 

And just to be clear, when I said sick, I didn't mean like food poisoning, throw up, diarrhea, etc etc... I meant, felt odd, not right, flushed, kind of like that, and same thing on more than one visit. Maybe it was MSG. Maybe something else. No way of knowing. Just that I was fine going in, and not so fine after eating. But again, that last visit was probably a year ago in BKK.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

7 hours ago, jdf2231 said:

Thank you for the information. Well I got myself 6 apples for 189 THB. They have the NZ label on it. I was wanting to go a step further and verify the barcode with the company... 189 baht for 6 apples (good and sweet ones) and there are costlier ones too. 

 

There's lots of NZ fruits to be found around BKK, at least, ones labeled as such. Seen them in Makro and regularly in Foodland, usually at pretty dear prices.

 

Makro in BKK used to sell big bags of red and green apples from the U.S.  But then there was a contamination scare of some sort more than a year ago on the U.S. end, and all the U.S. apples were pulled from Makro's shelves and I didn't see them again for a  long time until recently. (Though that was supposedly bacterial instead of pesticide related).

 

 

[balo]

 
There's lots of NZ fruits to be found around BKK, at least, ones labeled as such. Seen them in Makro and regularly in Foodland, usually at pretty dear prices.
 
Makro in BKK used to sell big bags of red and green apples from the U.S.  But then there was a contamination scare of some sort more than a year ago on the U.S. end, and all the U.S. apples were pulled from Makro's shelves and I didn't see them again for a  long time until recently. (Though that was supposedly bacterial instead of pesticide related).
 
 

I can't find NZ imported berries anywhere in Chiang Mai .plenty of them in Bangkok and Pattaya. I tried Rimping, Makro and Big C but only local berries and they taste terrible.

[fruitman]

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

OK.. thanks for the info.  I haven't been to any Sizzler for more than "some months." So last time I was there, probably was before they made the change to using Royal Project produce, if in fact they did that. I've never heard or seen of them advertising that or showing any indication in their restaurants, at least in my past visits.

 

And just to be clear, when I said sick, I didn't mean like food poisoning, throw up, diarrhea, etc etc... I meant, felt odd, not right, flushed, kind of like that, and same thing on more than one visit. Maybe it was MSG. Maybe something else. No way of knowing. Just that I was fine going in, and not so fine after eating. But again, that last visit was probably a year ago in BKK.

 

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

 

If you can't stand msg you better not eat anywhere in Thailand, so i doubt that's the issue.

To get strong and get antibody in your blood you should eat there often untill you don't get sick anymore. That's the best way (for me) to become Thai (read a person who can eat anything without getting sick).

 

I don't know what happens in the Sizzlers kitchen but vegy gets washed (i assume) and cut/stored in a fridge. I have never seen a more professional restaurant in Thailand than Sizzlers. The personell is Thai though, just like everywhere else in Thailand. I 've seen baby's walking over the buffetbar, people sneezing, touching food with bare hands and putting it back....just Thai things they all accept.

 

I wonder how they can get the real bbq-flavour on their steaks since i doubt they have charcoal. Guess it's smoked oil or fat they brush on the meat. Well tastes good to me. 

Maybe you ate medium/rare meat in there, i would avoid that anywhere in thailand but up to you.

 

I'm a big fan of the Makro these days but don't touch the carts there, people grab chicken with bare hands and then go pushing the cart. Again if you can't stand that you shouldn't go there, it will never change. Those people also have restaurants......or hotels.

 

What we do to avoid chemical buildup is just eat different vegy/fruit/meat every day.  Also not using bleach helps i guess, don't live too clean and build up resistance. I travel all over asia and last time i got sick was in India (serious sick) decades ago. That time i was green to asia and after that have not been sick anymore.

[Alive]

Deja Vu this story just keeps reincarnating every year. You would get pesticides on your veggies anywhere in Thailand where they are used. This is Thailand. Something has to be done but its going to take more effort. On top of that, the people after the farmers who deal with food I would think also use chemicals to get rid of pests at their shops or stalls. Pesticides should be tracked to where they are being sold and used for a start. Maybe the urban areas can come up with better systems to deal with pests than chemicals as well. Everything sprayed or poured eventually ends up in the environment.