Each MRL has a built-in safety margin that sets the final safe level at a minimum of 100 times below the limit that could cause health problems. Even with the most sophisticated equipment available to scientists today, most of the domestic and imported foods found on grocery shelves today test residue-free. Our federal government annually tests thousands of fruit and vegetable samples to ensure maximum residue limits are not exceeded. Humans ingest about 10,000 times more of nature's pesticides than man-made ones. In fact, the risk you expose yourself to by drinking a daily glass of apple juice from fruit treated with the pesticide Alar is 58 times less than the hazard of consuming natural carcinogens in one mushroom.
Pesticide residues remain only on the surface of produce.
They are not absorbed by fruits or vegetables. Rinsing with clear running water will remove most of any trace residues. Throw away outer leaves of lettuce and cabbage and scrub thick-skinned produce such as potatoes and carrots. Imported produce is required to meet the same Government of Canada residue tolerance levels and is subject to the same monitoring process as domestically grown foods. Organic food growers often use pesticides derived from natural sources to protect their crops.