05/27/2026
Please don’t let Mamavation’s latest article stop you from buying strawberries.
1. This wasn’t a scientific study.
The sample size was too small to make any real conclusions. They tested two containers from one store. One was conventionally grown, and the other was organic. They tested them in their own independent lab looking for the presence of pesticides.
2. They created a new term to scare us.
Forever chemicals do exist, but forever pesticides are a made up term. That’s what they labelled any pesticide that contained a Florine atom.
3. The dose matters.
Just because something contains a pesticide does not mean it will cause harm. Products grown, or imported in Canada must have residues below maximum residue limits (MRLs). These are set by looking at how much of a given food is eaten on a regular basis and across their lifespan. Then this number is reduced by 100x to buffer for safety.
To put this in perspective, a 50 pound child would need to eat over 40 containers of unwashed strawberries every day for the rest of their lives! This is simply not possible.
The Takeaway? Keep buying strawberries, whether grown conventionally or organically keep buying them. Wash them before eating and consider adding in diluted vinegar or baking soda to remove even more residue.
