New Pesticide Report Could Do More Harm Than Good for Produce Sellers (Watch)


When you hear about pesticides and other chemicals contaminating fruits and vegetables, it can make those foods sound less appealing. That’s the effect that a recent report, claiming that even conventionally grown fruits and vegetables face pesticide contamination, might have.

Some fruits and veggies are more prone to contain pesticides than others. For example, an annual report regularly names strawberries as one of the most contaminated items out there. But experts say that even foods that do contain pesticides only have a negligible amount of them. Sure, it’s theoretically better to buy organic where possible. But no matter what, it’s better to get your daily share of fruits and vegetables than to steer clear of them due to fear about pesticides.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy when it comes to convincing consumers. Especially with all the food safety issues that big name restaurants and grocery chains have faced in recent years, people tend to be fearful about any outside substance being part of the foods they buy.

The Takeaway from this Example of Bad PR

So produce sellers, grocery stores and other food businesses may have to do some damage control when reports like this surface. Convincing people that fruits and vegetables are healthy shouldn’t be that difficult of a task. But when you’re dealing with outside factors (like this example of bad PR) and concepts that not everyone fully understands, it can make maintaining sales a bit more difficult.

Farmers Market Photo via Shutterstock


More in: 2 Comments ▼

Annie Pilon Annie Pilon is a Senior Staff Writer for Small Business Trends, covering entrepreneur profiles, interviews, feature stories, community news and in-depth, expert-based guides. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

2 Reactions
  1. This is bad. It can lower the sales of produce sellers for people will start thinking that there will be some sort of pesticide scare when there is really none.

    • True, some of it can get blown a bit out of proportion. It’s fine to inform consumers about things like pesticides, but context is important too.