如何清洗蔬菜水果能最有效減少農藥殘留

Good old tap water will go a long way toward washing pesticide residues off your fruit and vegetables, but “getting it down to zero is not feasible, ever,” said Dave Stone, a toxicologist who is the director of theNational Pesticide Information Center, a cooperative effort between Oregon State University and the Environmental Protection Agency. While washing can reduce pesticide residues on the surface, it cannot eliminate pesticides that are absorbed by the roots into the very tissue of the fruit or vegetable.

美國國家農藥信息中心（National Pesticide Information Center，由俄勒岡州立大學[Oregon State University]和美國國家環境保護局[Environmental Protection Agency]合作建立）主任、毒理學家戴夫·斯通(Dave Stone)表示，使用質量較好的普通自來水洗滌蔬菜和水果對清除其上的殘留農藥大有助益，但“要想把它們洗得一點不剩是不可能的”。雖然清洗可以減少蔬果表面的農藥殘留，但這樣做並無法清除被根部吸收進入到蔬菜或水果內部組織中的農藥。

Scrubbing with a vegetable brush helps, Dr. Stone said, but using a store-bought veggie wash might not: A 2000 study by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station found that rinsing lettuce, strawberries and tomatoes under tap water for 60 seconds worked just as well as using a commercial vegetable wash to significantly reduce pesticide residues. Using a veggie wash might even backfire, Dr. Stone said, because detergent residue could be added to fruits with porous outer layers.

斯通博士還說，使用蔬菜清潔刷來刷洗蔬果也有一定的幫助，但使用從商店買來的蔬果清洗劑卻可能沒有這樣的效果：2000年康涅狄格州農業試驗站(Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station)的一項研究發現，在自來水下清洗生菜、草莓和西紅柿60秒與使用市售蔬果清洗劑一樣可以有效地顯著減少農藥殘留。斯通博士說，使用蔬果清洗劑甚至還可能適得其反，因爲洗滌劑有可能會殘留在水果多孔的外層中。

The best way to wash is to place the fruit or vegetable in a colander and run water over it, rather than just dunk it in a bowl. “The force of the running water will drive off residues,” Dr. Stone said. Peeling also helps get rid of pesticide residues in the skin.

清洗蔬菜或水果的最佳方法是將它們放在濾器裏用流水沖洗，而不是簡單地將它們泡在盆子裏。“流水的力量可以沖掉農藥殘留，”斯通博士說。削皮也有助於去除蔬果外皮上的農藥殘留。

The Environmental Working Group’s so-called Dirty Dozen and the Consumer Reports Always Buy Organic list, both of which are based on data from the federal Department of Agriculture, which tests fruits and vegetables after they have been washed, include items deemed to have relatively higher pesticide loads. Both lists include strawberries, nectarines and American-grown apples. If you’re considering buying organic, you might put these items at the top of your list.

美國農業部(Department of Agriculture)對經過清洗的蔬菜和水果（包括被認爲帶有較多農藥的品種）進行了檢測，在這些數據的基礎上，美國環境工作組(Environmental Working Group)提出了“12種受污染食品(Dirty Dozen)”，《消費者報告》(Consumer Reports)也列出了若干種“必選買有機產品(Always Buy Organic)”的食品。草莓、油桃和美國出產的蘋果均同時名列上述兩份“黑名單”之中。如果你考慮購買有機食品，不妨把這幾樣放在購物清單的首要位置。