The Food We Are Eating

Have no knowledge of chemicals, however, we buy part of our fruits and vegetables from the vendors who drive by our condo and call for my wife over their loudspeakers. But we always wash what we buy before eating it. same with what we buy in the supermarkets.

Fruits and vegetatables loaded with DDT and worse would not suprise me. In the DR there is no accountability. If DDT is cost effective and available, you can be sure it will be used.

I just bought some avocados at my local grocery store here in Atlanta and was surprised to see that they were from the Dominican Republic. This is the first time I have seen fruit or vegetables from the DR and I was wondering the same thing pretty much. Where were these grown and under what conditions? I'm sure they go through some sort of inspection when entering the US, but am sure they were chemically treated at some point. Anyway, they made for a nice salad.

Sorry Abi about deviating from the original question.

DDT hahahahahahahhahaha

It my understanding that DDT severely impacts on the reproductive system (and not in a good way). Given the current birth-rate, I think it's safe to assume that all fruit and vegetables in the DR are DDT-free.

MD:classic:

Save food?

An American lady once told me the following:
Dominican farmers wanting to export vegetables to the US submitted samples to an inspection authority there.
The answer was: On whatever soil this
stuff was grown, do not touch it for the next 20 years. Then ask again.

"Much Ado About Nothing"!

It sure is great that we have so many agricultural experts here on DR1!

It is obvious that no one has any idea what they are talking about! Rumors and speculation add no benefit to this thread!

"He said,She said"! Doesn't hold much water!

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experts

Sorry,
I forgot that only posts of superior expertise are permitted in this forum.
Simply put me on your ignore-list and do
not do much of an ado.

The most cost-effective pesticide is none at all. Poor traceability and accountability may be a problem for us, but I'd place the burden of proof on the persons making the allegations.

Avocados selling in the USA and one immediately thinks of poison? US customs are more rigurous now than ever, yet we fear they have opened up to our market without checking. Makes no sense. Again, show me proof.

The food we eat

So far there have been no answers from any farmers.

Look, on garden vegetables, they use pesticides. So wash your vegetables well before using.

I have been reproducing well, and my off spring have been reproducing well, so that does not seem to have harmed me over 40 + years!.

As for Mountainfrog's comment: You are full of poo-poo. The Dominican Republic has been exporting produce to United States markets for decades. Yes, decades. There are certain products that are extremely and severly controled and avocados are one of them. I will bet that those avocados are from Mr. Manuel Arsenio Ure?a's farm. He exports avocados and macadamia nuts to the States.

The most "chemicalized" land in the country is probably the Constanza Valley. We get our potatos, most cabbage and lettuce, all of the garlic, lots of onions and other fruits like strawberries from there. Lots of rinsing before eating, soaking (there was a whole thread on this a while back), and even blanching will take care of most stuff....

Believe me people, you can eat excellent fruits and veggies here with just a little common sense (which Mrs. HB calls the "least common sense>)

HB

Washing, rinsing, soaking ...

Well Hillbilly, if you think that these measures get rid of all the chemicals that roots take up from the soil and thus are INSIDE the plants ...your comment containing the "poo-poo" becomes understandable: all those chemicals have turned you into an aggressive person.
BTW, I do farm, subsistence farming only though. The fertilizer we use is "poo-poo" .... our cow?s manure.

Washing with just water is not good enough. The cheapest way is to soak them in hydrogen peroxide and apple cider vinegar for 10 minutes than rinse them off very good. Wash your bananas, oranges and other fruits and vegetable you will run a knife through. It really makes a difference.

Mountainfrog is right. What to do?

Re: The food we eat

Hillbilly said:

So far there have been no answers from any farmers.

As for Mountainfrog's comment: You are full of poo-poo. The Dominican Republic has been exporting produce to United States markets for decades. Yes, decades. There are certain products that are extremely and severly controled and avocados are one of them. HB

Click to expand...

Just let me toss in my own two cow chips here if I might. I am directly involved in agriculture here in the USA and lived and worked in the field in the DR for 4 years. HB is absolutely correct in his statements. Those products exported to the US must pass all USDA standards.

It's easy to make uninformed statements about chemical use on farm products, but try to think it through logically. Most agricultural chemicals are expensive; we sometimes pay $100 USD per gallon for some types! So we don't use it unless we need it.

FWIW, I have seen more raptors in the past 5 years than at anytime in my life. Especially Red Tail Hawks and American Kestrels. They live in the Midwestern US in the summer and migrate to the DR in the wintertime. I doubt the existence of DDT residue because those birds are amongst the first to suffer reproductive failure.

Just wash your veggies in the DR and you'll be fine (assuming you use clean water, but that is another topic!).

Swede

To flame or not to flame, that is the question

Look Froggy (BTW, one of my favorite characters from my childhood was Froggy)

If you live here, eat what is available and enjoy it. Wash it, of course.

If you live in the States, you can go organic...but know that all that stuff is handled by people that don't always what their hands.,..

We have to live with what we got.

Swede: What you said about pesticides is true here...They are very expensive, and now the best are piriterides(?) that are supposed to be more "natural'....

Froggy: Subsistance farming don't count, dude. You have to do farming for profit. THEN you see real farming...

HB

L?quidos

Well, whenever my dear neighbour feels that he should get rid of the weeds he chooses "l?quido" rather than uprooting them. Then I would see him with his pump on his back spraying all morning.
No protection gear, of course. Sometimes he does not feel well in the afternoon, but "no hay problema". The stuff must be dirt cheap and could very well be prohibited in other countries. They do love to use l?quidos.
A little further up the road there is a gringo (hillbilly type) who grows lettuce and other vegetablkes mainly for other gringos. I was shocked by the amount of a white powder that he uses to kill the ants and crickets that seem to nibble away his profits.
Oh yes, I know, just wash it and enjoy it.
"Froggy".