What really works to remove pesticide residue from your produce

You may not be able to completely remove pesticide residue from your produce. But the simplest and most effective step is to Rinse your fresh fruits and vegetables in clean, cold water. It’s the easiest way to get rid of any dirt, bugs, price tag adhesive or pathogens that might have hitched a ride. In doing so, you will be doing everything you reasonably can to reduce pesticide lumps.

Additional steps, like removing the skin from the produce, might help a little, but pesticides are like medicine that penetrates the flesh of the plant. Plus, the peels and skins often have nutritional benefits, so it’s probably not worth throwing them away. Cooking your produce may help some, but pesticides are quite tough and heat stable.

The only way to avoid chemical residues on food is to know where your products come from and confirm that pesticides have not been used, which is a challenge. You won’t see pesticides on ingredient labels, and your local farmers might not even have this information (recordkeeping requirements changed in 2025, so they may or may not closely track their pesticide use).

There is a lot of information online about pesticide residue, and it can be difficult to understand what it means for your health. There are a few points that need clarification:

• Not all pesticides are the same: Pesticides are used to help keep crops growing, usually by killing or preventing damage from “pests” like insects, mold, and plant diseases. Man-made or synthetic pesticides generally have a bad reputation in terms of risk to humans, but not all pesticides fall into this category; some come from natural sources.
• A tiny amount of chemical pesticides is not alarming: In the United States, strict standards are in place to guard against dangerous levels of synthetic pesticides.
• Pesticide residues may be unavoidable: Ideally, producers would be able to guarantee that residues of these chemicals won’t end up on your table, but it’s a daunting task. The best they can do is prevent a potentially harmful amount of pesticide residue from entering the food supply.

So yes, your products may contain a very small amount of pesticide residue. Even if the label says “all natural” or “organic,” that doesn’t mean the food is pesticide-free. You may also see “grown without pesticides” or “pesticide-free” on some labels, but it is not required. And it may simply mean that no synthetic pesticides were used.

Vegetable wash products may claim to clean your produce of pesticides. But adding another substance doesn’t solve the pesticide problem and likely leaves yet another residue.