The Worries of pesticides

[f1shdude]

Like many others who are seriously thinking of relocating to CR I have come across many websites (yes including Michael Forrest's) that rant about the atrocities that occur while living in CR. There will always be people like Michael Forrest out there who will find the negative in any situation. I'd be willing to bet that Michael Forrest would feel that winning the lottery was a negative as the tax implications and future financial decisions would be daunting. One can Google,"What are the negatives of moving to......." One can fill in the blank with any country on the face of the earth and find many websites berating that particular country.

 

Anyway, on to my actual area of concern: Although we all know about the incredible array of fresh fruits and vegetables available in CR and thus the potential for an extremely healthy diet, if chosen, we also hear about the horrendous usage of pesticides on these fruits and vegetables. We intend to purchase a great % of our produce from local ferias. We are wondering as to the validity of these claims and how do all of you who live there contend with these seemingly ever present pesticides? Will a good washing of the fruit or veggie be enough to rid the pesticides or do the pesticides actually penetrate the produce?

 

Thank you in advance for all who participate in this forum thread.

[Lavender]

Food here is fantastic. Fresh, tasty, affordable. every Friday and saturday you can get it for a week.

Nothing is worse then frozen, full of hormones, antibiotics, artificial colorings, sweeteners, GIF, no seeds, no smell, no taste.... you are eating daily in USA daily. Also in CR they have an organic produce and organic farms.

[ReevesTribe]

The pesticide (& herbicide & fungicide) issue is real. Pesticides banned in other developed countries are still used in CR. You need to wash your fruit/veggies very, very thoroughly & find a good organic source that you can trust at your feria.

 

http://www.costarica...s-in-the-world/

 

http://www.freshfrui...aim-scientists/

Edited March 1, 2012 by ReevesTribe

[eleanorcr]

There are tons (or tonnes) of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides used on the enormous pineapple and banana farms. And they are spreading so it could be that a lot of the big increase in the importation of these products is associated with these farms. They are also used on coffee farms.

 

Costa Rica has a tropical climate and with that come insect pests, weeds and fungus. And then there's the beautiful oropendola that just pokes a hole in a ripe orange and sucks out the juice and you don't know it until harvest time!

 

I do wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly, of course, because there really is no way to know what has been applied to them.

 

Other than the very large pineapple and banana plantations, most produce comes from "family" farms. From my experience, most of these want to do what it takes to keep their plants healthy and productive but overusing expensive products just reduces any profit that they might make.

 

Looking for local organic products is a good idea as well as growing a few things for your own use. (Try this and you will begin to understand the issues!)

Edited March 1, 2012 by eleanorcr

[costaricafinca]

One of the reasons for us moving from the farm, was our former partner increased/excessive use of RoundUp. This was based solely, on his dislike of anything growing under the thousands of trees we had planted over the past years. He likes 'brown' not 'green' as he has in Florida. He had contacted Monsanto directly, asking where he could purchase GMO sweet corn seeds in Costa Rica... They did respond, by saying 'they weren't available here...'

He did relent and allow some Mani to be planted under some fruit trees, on a bank to stop erosion.