Org Library Menu Beef. Use of pesticides causes environmental and human illness problems.
Meat contains more pesticides than do plant-source foods.
USDA's official report for 1989 on residue monitoring of meat showed no violative pesticide residues in beef. Monitoring agencies indicate that any residues of crop chemicals are undetectable or are present at only a fraction of tolerance levels in food. As a consequence, only a small fraction of any chemical absorbed is even temporarily deposited in tissue. Actually, animals provide a useful function by biodegrading chemicals, whether natural or man-made. That violation rate has steadily declined for the last decade.