{"id":6223,"date":"2014-12-28T18:27:20","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T00:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realfoodhouston.com\/?p=6223"},"modified":"2015-08-06T12:20:39","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T17:20:39","slug":"the-dirty-secret-behind-organic-strawberries-starter-plants-are-fumigated-with-pesticides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/2014\/12\/28\/the-dirty-secret-behind-organic-strawberries-starter-plants-are-fumigated-with-pesticides\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dirty Secret Behind Organic Strawberries: Starter Plants Are Fumigated With Pesticides!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Strawberry<\/a>Update June 25, 2015:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Driscoll’s has announced<\/a> “a broad expansion of organic nursery plant production and a commitment to providing all of Driscoll\u2019s USDA certified organic growers with organic nursery plants.”\u00a0 They do not say when they will reach 100%.\u00a0 Only about 10% of their organic strawberry plants currently come from organic nurseries.<\/p>\n

************************<\/p>\n

Have you been buying organic strawberries, like I have, <\/em>to avoid the pesticides used on conventional strawberries?<\/p>\n

I was surprised when I read reports about a recent study<\/a> proposing a better solution to the problem of strawberry diseases because they mentioned that even organic strawberry “starts” were fumigated with pesticides<\/em>.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 How could that be?<\/p>\n

Yes, if you thought organic strawberries were never treated with conventional chemicals, think again!\u00a0 Most of our mass-produced organic strawberries (California produces 90% of US strawberries) are grown from “starts” that were fumigated with many toxic pesticides.<\/p>\n

Apparently all large California strawberry growers, including organic ones, use starter plants from commercial-scale conventional nurseries in northern California.<\/p>\n

Due to an exception to the regulations for organic farming, these strawberry growers are allowed to buy “starts” from conventional nurseries if organic stock is not “commercially available.” With this loophole in place since 2002, large growers would not buy from the only organic nursery, and it finally went out of business in 2009.\u00a0 Unless organic growers are required to buy organic starts, there will be no organic nurseries for strawberries.<\/p>\n

For several years, I have bought only organic strawberries to avoid the pesticides used heavily on them, partly because The Environmental Working Group lists conventional strawberries among the dirtiest produce in its Shopper’s Guide (2014 Guide<\/a>).\u00a0 The EWG tests vegetables and fruits to determine those that are most and least contaminated.\u00a0 Apples and strawberries top this year’s list of the “Dirty Dozen Plus<\/a>” as having the most pesticide residues.\u00a0 The 2014 report says that conventional strawberry samples were contaminated with 13 different pesticides.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/a>

Photo: Sam Hodgson for CIR<\/p><\/div>\n

Even with a conventional start, I do know that organic strawberries will be far less contaminated than conventional strawberries because at least after the final planting, those pesticides are not allowed.<\/p>\n

The Pesticide Action Network lists 50 pesticides<\/a> used on California strawberries, so, yes, I will continue to buy only organic strawberries, although maybe not as often as before.\u00a0 Our best hope is that better methods of disease control can be found, as in the study<\/a> which prompted my interest.<\/p>\n

Wouldn’t it be better for all of us, especially our children, if we could buy real, truly organic strawberries?\u00a0 I haven’t been able to find local, organic strawberries, but if you’re lucky enough to have access to them, they would be the best choice.\u00a0 Fresh ripe strawberries are super delicious!<\/p>\n

Sources<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Even organic strawberries are grown with dangerous pesticides<\/a>
\nBerry toxic: Decoding the organic strawberry debacle<\/a>
\nOrganic Strawberries? Not So Much<\/a>
\nEven Organic Strawberries Are Grown With Toxic Fumigants<\/a>
\nEWG’s 2014 Shopper’s Guide To Pesticides In Produce<\/a>
\nCalifornia poised to approve deadly pesticide for strawberry crop<\/a>
\nCalifornia\u2019s strawberry industry is hooked on dangerous pesticides<\/a>
\nPesticide Use on Strawberries in 2012<\/a>
\nStudy: Integrated soil-borne disease and weed management for organic strawberries using anaerobic soil disinfestation, broccoli residue incorporation and mustard cake application<\/a><\/p>\n

Update August 6, 2015: Additional Information<\/em><\/p>\n

Strawberry Fields Don\u2019t Have to Be Pesticide-Laden Forever<\/a><\/p>\n

Strawberry photo credit: Shutterstock<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update June 25, 2015:\u00a0 Driscoll’s has announced “a broad expansion of organic nursery plant production and a commitment to providing all of Driscoll\u2019s USDA certified organic growers with organic nursery plants.”\u00a0 They do not say when they will reach 100%.\u00a0 …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,18,19,347],"tags":[64,385,84,40,120],"class_list":["post-6223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-organic-food","category-real-food","category-research","tag-food-safety-2","tag-fumigants","tag-health-2","tag-organic","tag-pesticides"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/shutterstock_138926813.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p70SEj-1Cn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6223"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6344,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223\/revisions\/6344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}