One of my favourite fridge magnets states: ‘I love organic food. Or as my grandparents called it, ‘food’.’ It’s a perfectly succinct way of summing up contemporary farming methods and the man-made ‘extras’ used to grow food, such as antibiotics, fertilisers, and pesticides. But while these additions help generate the vast sums of food we eat, are they doing us more harm than good?
In 2023, a government study found pesticide residues in 49% of food samples, although these were within or at the allowed maximum residue limits (MRL). However, the safety of these levels has been disputed, particularly because, since Brexit, far higher pesticide residues are allowed on food, reports the Guardian.
