Australia’s most toxic food

I’ve written before about how to go organic without blowing the budget, and it’s wise to spend your organic dollars where they count most. I recently came across this list, compiled by Friends of the Earth, naming the twenty foods in Australia that have the highest amounts of residual pesticides and insecticides. Sad to see that most of those foods make up the average child’s diet.

It’s easy to turn a blind eye to chemicals in foods, I do it myself occasionally – sometimes because it’s more convenient to do so, or maybe I just want an apple, dammit. But with more and more studies linking pesticides to obesity, hormonal problems, ADHD, learning and behavioural problems and leukaemia in children, it’s getting harder to ignore the simple truth: synthetic chemicals simply don’t belong in our food.

I didn’t so much as find this list as have it delivered into my inbox thanks to the Bud Organic Club, an initiative founded by the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA), an organisation that supports Aussie farmers going organic. The idea behind the club is to make organics a bit easier for everyday peeps like us, to provide reliable information in plain English and to demystify the whole idea of chemical-free food (although what the mystery is I’m not so sure).

I’ve signed up, and in return I receive a monthly newsletter with tips on how to go organic, recipes and bits of information. It’s helpful, I recommend it. It’s all not-for-profit, so can’t be a bad thing. You can visit www.budorganic.com.au to find out more. If you think “oh dear god not another email” then just hang out here occasionally and I’ll spread the good word.