Do Bananas Have Pesticide Residue?

Billions of Bananas

• In 2010, the US imported $1.64 billion worth of fresh bananas -- the highest dollar value of all U.S. fresh fruit imports. That level of banana consumption raises questions about the pesticides in and on the bananas. Banana plantations make heavy use of pesticides, leading some shoppers to assume that conventionally-grown bananas are not safe for consumption.

Lab-Tested Produce

• To adequately gauge the potential for ingesting pesticides along with your fruit, it helps to understand the Environmental Protection Agency's method for determining a pesticide's health risk. Each food-approved pesticide is assigned a limit, or tolerance, which describes the acceptable amount of pesticide residue that can be left on or in food. Foods that test above that tolerance level are determined to have violative residues. Year after year, imported bananas analyzed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration come in well under the pesticide limit, with little or no violative residue detected.

Decisions, Decisions

• The Environmental Working Group compiles an annual list of the 48 most popular conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables and uses data from the USDA to rank those items according to their level of pesticide residue. The foods are listed in order from worst to best, with the apple rated #1 -- in other words, apples have the most pesticide residue of all the produce listed. Bananas ranked 35th on the 2012 list. Given that we peel bananas before eating them, their pesticide level drops even more.

Mix it Up

• Any food -- even the trusty banana -- can overload your body if you eat it constantly. If you are concerned about pesticide exposure, you have two choices. First, you can buy organic produce exclusively. Second, you can limit your exposure to a single pesticide by eating a wide variety of conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables, which also delivers a healthy mix of nutrients and micro-nutrients to your body.