Pesticides in Foods: Britain’s Latest Blind Spot
Long-lasting toxins are damaging the quality of our everyday food intake. I wanted to find out how much Britons really know…
This week, it was reported us that “forever chemicals” are found in an alarming amount of our food. According to Sky News, ‘toxins which take centuries to break down in the environment, were found in more than 3,300 samples tested by the UK government in 2022’, especially in strawberries. These toxins (known as PFAS) can build up within living organisms, leading to serious health risks, like higher cholesterol, liver damage, hormone disruption, abnormal foetal development, and even cancer.
Interest in this issue was piqued thanks to news coverage about PFAs in American tap water. On a BBC Instagram post reporting it, one English user wrote, ‘Cows pumped with hormones and steroids, chickens dipped in chlorine, and harmful chemicals in water…no wonder they are all a bit crazy’. However, it’s naïve to look down our noses and think that Britain is immune to this. The UK enforces limits on pesticide residue levels, yet grocers and consumers alike are not as well informed as we’d like to think.
Shabir, who runs a popular grocery in Camberwell, tells me that all their fruit and veg is sourced from Spitalfields Market. While Spitalfields has a good reputation, and Shabir trusts his suppliers, he didn’t know much about the pesticides used on his own products, “I don’t know the farming side. That’s a question for the farmers!”.
Although many small businesses hope to champion small-scale producers, whose food is free from toxins, these goods are often seen as luxuries by buyers, and don’t slot into the reality of their everyday shopping. Will, the manager of Gladwell’s Deli and Grocery, explained, “I wouldn’t say people choose local grocers over big supermarkets. They like the idea and it’s preferable, because you can pick what you want, but it’s hard to compete in terms of price”.
Set in a Grade II listed building, Gladwell’s is high-quality, inviting, and beautifully laid out. Amidst all the healthy young families, hauling prams in and out, meticulous descriptions of where each cheese is sourced from, and fresh loaves of sourdough, you feel that you must be doing something right. It’s independent, local, and their groceries are organic, but paying almost £3 for one cabbage can be off-putting.
Buyers certainly like the idea of natural produce, free from pesticides, but when asked if they check the ingredients on food packaging or enquire about how produce is farmed, an overwhelming majority said no. The only exceptions admitted doing so because of a specific allergen or personal preference. “I’d usually have a look at the nutrition, because I go to the gym”, Ken (a young student) said. “On packaging, I only look out for diary, because I’m lactose intolerant”, his friend Anna added.
‘Food as Medicine’, an exhibition I’d seen recently, played in the back of my mind. Photographer Astrid Schultz presents a vibrant series of portraits, paying tribute to the people involved in small-scale food production all over the world. The gallery displaying her work asserts that ‘Direct distribution to the end consumer, and the personal satisfaction of self-governed micro-businesses, can make a significant contribution to wellbeing of communities, in contrast to today’s “e-food” products and processes, as bought in automated supermarkets’. While there is undoubtedly satisfaction in picking out fresh produce yourself, much of this, at least in the UK, seems to be about optics. Yes, we feel good shopping at our neighbourhood grocers, but how much do we (or even they!) really know about food production and farming? Astrid Schultz’s fifteen fabulous food producers were hanging in an empty room.
