In 2010, the Alliance for Food and Farming conducted consumer surveys that showed residue as a major produce safety concern. Heeding these results, the alliance created the Safe Fruits and Veggies campaign, with part of the campaign being its residue calculator that estimates safe consumption levels — and illustrates how much of a specific fruit or vegetable someone would need to eat in a day to experience negative effects from pesticide residues. Quite a lot, it turns out.
The Alliance for Food and Farming is a nonprofit organization that delivers information to consumers about the safety of fruits and vegetables, and it says that all information provided is based on credible, independent science and/or information from government regulatory bodies.
AAF's pesticide residue calculator was developed with toxicologists from the University of California and uses the highest residue found by the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program on 20 commodities to offer safe consumption levels.
The organization's Safe Fruits and Veggies campaign aims to reassure consumers about the safety of both conventional and organic produce, with the goal of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. Teresa Thorne, executive director for AFF, shares how the tool helps retailers and consumers make informed, fact-based decisions about fresh produce.
The Packer: You said the Safe Fruits and Veggies campaign was a result of consumer research. Tell us what you found.
Thorne: Consumer surveys have consistently shown over the years that residue is the No. 1 produce safety concern among consumers to this day.
We did some message testing in 2010 to guide the campaign and have continued to conduct research every five years. One of the messages that has resonated the best with consumers is putting into perspective how low residues are, if present at all. The message that you could eat hundreds to thousands of servings in a day and still not have any concern or have any health effects from residues because they're so low, if residues are present at all.
How could we make that actionable for a consumer? It's a great message, but in its original state, it's a little vague. We came up with the idea of the calculator, where you could enter, for example, if you want to know more about what your child could eat or want to know more about what you as a woman could eat, you can choose. Then you choose the commodity, and it calculates it.
To formulate the calculator, we went to toxicologists with the University of California personal chemical exposure program and asked them how to make this work. And they said, "If we're going to do this, we need to take the highest residue that the USDA finds on any of those 20 commodities and use that as the basis for the calculation." They based the results almost as a worst-case scenario, and you can see the results are pretty amazing.
Were there any surprising findings from the research?
It was interesting that the USDA [Pesticide Data Program] doesn’t necessarily do a lot of testing on organic produce, but they did, and when looking at organic lettuce versus conventional lettuce, conventional actually tested better.
It doesn’t really matter, but it makes a good point. It’s an interesting illustration that when the price point is a concern, shoppers should feel safe to purchase what best fits their budgets. And it’s not always possible for the organic consumer to choose organic, for example when eating at a restaurant. Whether it’s organic or conventional, the right choice is to eat the lettuce.
What are the most common misconceptions about pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables?
People think they’re at risk by eating conventional produce. Yet, there are decades of toxicology studies that show it’s safe; decades of government sampling data, state and federal, that verify their safety.
That’s heartening to know as a consumer. What are some ways retailers can share this message with shoppers?
As the Safe Fruits and Veggies website is consumer-facing, we want people to link to it. We want people to link to the calculator. Because we’re public facing, we have social channels that people can be directed toward. And there’s so much information on the site. Not only the science and nutrition studies, but there’s information on washing, there’s information on nutrition, current events and new studies. We have tips for dietitians and tips from dietitians, cost-saving ideas and a huge amount of information.
And of course, the calculator is there.
Thorne's suggestions for retailers:
- Display QR codes in the produce section linking to the calculator, allowing shoppers to check pesticide residue levels for different fruits and vegetables in-store.
- Incorporate residue calculator insights into marketing materials, newsletters or social media posts to reassure customers about the safety of conventional produce.
- Create in-store signage to encourage fresh produce consumption, regardless of whether it’s organic or conventionally grown.
- Work with dietitians or wellness programs to integrate the calculator into nutrition advice. The Safe Fruits and Vegetables website has a tab devoted to dietitians with data and downloadable infographics.
“At the end of the day, what we want to do is reassure consumers, whether they choose conventional or organic, it doesn't matter," Thorne said. "Both are safe and you can consume either with confidence. Just choose what's affordable and accessible for you.”