Question #4ee30

1 Answer
Jan 12, 2017

There is no hard evidence for it.

Explanation:

Tests that have been carried out on various fruits and vegetables to determine the most effective ways of removing pesticide residues (which are, in any case, only ever present in extremely small quantities) determined that the best materials to remove them were ethanol, or glycerol, or a surfactant such as sodium lauryl sulphate.

However, washing the items in plain water still had a pretty good effect that was not significantly worse than using the materials stated above. Vinegar (which is typically 96% water in any case) really makes no difference.

There is a rather quaint school of thought that seems to think that vinegar is some miracle product that removes grease, cleans glass, and presumably also removes pesticides. The reality is that vinegar is simply an extremely dilute acetic acid solution, that might have a very minor effect removing things like surface limescale, but it has no effect on greases and nothing measurable on pesticides.

Wash your fruits and vegetables in water, that will be fine.