How bothered are you about pesticides on food?

[Tressle]

We have gone at least 50% organic, not too hung up about it, but have read a few unsettling reports about wheat and oats in particular (spraying prior to harvest leaving a ton of residue that many countries and councils have banned as potentially carcinogenic and environmentally destructive to soil, water and biodiversity).

Seems that a lot of people from the King of England to Tim Spector have spoken out about glyphosate, so I have the impression that there is more awareness or at least a growing push to seek alternatives now.

In general, how bothered would you be about this?
Trying to go 100% organic would be insanely hard work (for us) and I haven't the patience or time to pull it off to be honest but I am interested how other people feel about it.
Is it even worth bothering if you can't go 100%??
We are aware of 'the dirty dozen' and stick by that if and when we can. Been cutting out non organic wheat this past few months and oh god I long for an M$S pizza, lol, it used to be a Friday treat

I don't see what's patronising about my post. You said you didn't eat organic as you don't believe there are any health benefits. I was merely pointing out the other reason many buy organic - to try to protect wildlife from chemicals.

The issue is that we (as a global polulation) seem to be simultaneously aiming for a perfect solution that uses no water, no scientific advances like pesticides, artificial fertilisers or antibiotics, no exploitation of animals, no deforestation, and at very low cost - all whilst the number of people to be fed is increasing every second. There are many choices to be made but they all involve compromise. We get conflicting signals about what is best from different groups depending on their particular interest but these are overly simplistic and don't provide a solution.

For example, sure you can eat less meat and dairy, and this alleges to be better for the environment and many choose to do so - but you can't do that without increasing reliance on other foods which can only be grown successfully and relatively cheaply with pesticides or foods that have high water needs. When they say it's more sustainable to eat less red meat they only mean in terms of one aspect, and obviously if you are a group charged with reducing greenhouse gas emissions you will appear to successful if you cause a reduction in ruminant livestock production, and you don't need to deal with the consequences of the resulting exporting of our protein requirements to countries where water scarcity is a huge environmental problem, or land must be deforested to meet demand, or it results in loss of grazed-moorland habitat vital for bird species that may otherwise be extinct.

To answer your specific question OP I try to minimise my consumption pesticides where an alternative is readily available, but I wouldn't not buy an M&S pizza. I don't think glyphosate is good for gut health but I don't believe that a few slices of pizza occasionally, in an otherwise lowish-UPF diet, will do me any harm. There are some UPF foods that cause me horrible indigestion, that don't contain cereals,
and therefore my view is that glyohosate isn't good for me but there are other seemingly "safe" additives that concern me more.

We don't eat meat so that's another thing that doesn't worry me.

Gosh I don't know, but I live next to a field where barley has been sown and the air smells like fly spray which I wouldn't use in the house. Does not feel good....

Oats are recognised to absorb the most glypho of all the cereals.

I suspect Fipronil in our water is a huge issue too that people aren't aware of sufficiently. I think it's possibly responsible for more negative things than we can even imagine : (

Oats are one of the items I will only buy organic due to the absorption of glysophate issue and because DDs eat porridge really regularly. I don't spray the fruit and veg I grow in my garden with roundup weedkiller so I want to try to avoid it in our breakfast!

That said I would still have your M&S pizza as a treat OP without worrying too much. For us, going 100% organic isn't realistic so I make sure the majority of our shopping is organic and then don't worry about the odd shop bought pizza or meal out.

I do buy Doves Farm organic flour but don't make all of our own bread so the Wildfarmed sliced loaf is a good option.... it's not strictly certified organic but they don't spray their crops with pesticides or herbicides. Crosta Mollica do organic wraps that are also UPF free so there are options out there.