The Unpeeled Truth
What’s really on our plate?
We consider how the way our food is grown affects the planet, but what about its impact on human health?
The Unpeeled Truth looks beyond what we eat to how our food is grown, exploring pesticide use, what the evidence tells us and why human health should have a place in sustainable food procurement.
It isn’t just about one pesticide on one strawberry
Pesticide Action Network UK’s analysis of UK Government testing found PFAS pesticides in 95% of strawberry samples tested, including 91% of UK-grown strawberries, but the conversation about pesticide exposure goes beyond whether a single residue is present or falls within a permitted limit.
Pesticides are designed to affect living organisms, and through the food we eat we can be exposed to multiple pesticide residues over time.
UK Government testing analysed in PAN UK’s The Cocktail Effect report found that more than a third of fruit and vegetables tested in 2017 and 2018 contained residues of multiple pesticides.
This is where it gets more complicated
The Cocktail Effect
Safety assessments have traditionally looked at pesticides individually, but in real life, we can encounter different residues together, through a single piece of produce, across a meal and throughout our diet.
What we understand less well is how those different chemicals may interact when we are exposed to them together.
This is where the “cocktail effect” comes in: the concern isn't only the presence of individual pesticides, but how different chemicals may interact when we're exposed to them together.
Research cited by PAN UK has found that some pesticide mixtures can have combined or synergistic effects, meaning their effect together can differ from what would be expected by looking at each chemical individually.
Yet pesticide safety assessments have traditionally assessed individual chemicals rather than the countless combinations we may encounter through our diets and environment.
In other words: we know a lot about individual pesticides. We know much less about what happens when they meet.
Not everything washes off
Washing, peeling and trimming can reduce some pesticide residues that remain on the surface of fruit and vegetables.
But some pesticides are systemic.
They are absorbed by the plant as it grows and can move through its tissues, meaning residues may be present within the food itself.
So while washing produce remains good practice, it cannot necessarily remove everything.
If the way food is grown matters, we need to look further up the supply chain.
The bigger opportunity is procurement
If some pesticide residues are determined by how food is grown, reducing exposure cannot rely on what happens once that food reaches the kitchen.
It means looking further up the supply chain.
For organisations feeding hundreds or thousands of people, procurement decisions can influence which ingredients are bought, how they are grown, which farming practices are supported and ultimately what reaches people’s plates.
This gives businesses an opportunity to make an impact at scale: to make better choices before the food is served.
If we want human health to sit alongside environmental impact, procurement needs to look beyond where food comes from and consider how it was produced.
What does better procurement look like?
-
Giving buyers better visibility of growing methods and farming practices, rather than provenance alone.
-
Prioritising organic ingredients strategically, particularly where pesticide use or residues are of greater concern, rather than treating organic as an all or nothing choice.
-
Making information about production methods easier for caterers and procurement teams to access and use when making sourcing decisions.
-
Assessing food not only through carbon, waste, biodiversity and cost, but through the potential implications for the people eating it.
We’re starting with our own supply chain
More than 75% of the ingredients we use each day are organic, alongside a focus on seasonal produce, responsible sourcing and close relationships with our suppliers.
But for us, sustainable food isn’t only about carbon, waste or provenance. As the first catering company globally to achieve the WELL designation, we consider nutrition and human health alongside environmental impact in the food we source and serve.
We know we don’t have all the answers, but we believe caterers have both an opportunity and a responsibility to ask more of the supply chain, and we don’t want that conversation to stop with Pow Food.
Taking the conversation further
We are back as the official catering partner at the Blue Earth Summit this October, an we will be bringing this conversation to the table with leaders across food, health, sustainability and business.
Our roundtable will explore one central question:
How do we put human health on the sustainable food agenda?
We’ll look at what this could mean in practice, from greater supply-chain transparency and smarter organic procurement to the information businesses should expect from caterers and suppliers.
The ambition is to move beyond conversation.
We want to begin defining practical principles for better food procurement, giving organisations and caterers a clearer framework for considering human health alongside planetary health when deciding what food they source and serve.
Join our conversation and stay updated
Sources and Further Reading
The Unpeeled Truth draws on UK Government monitoring and independent research into pesticide use, residues, PFAS and food preparation.
Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK)
Analysis of UK Government pesticide residue monitoring data, including PFAS pesticides detected in UK fruit and vegetables.
Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF)
UK pesticide residue monitoring reports and assessments.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Information on pesticide regulation, Maximum Residue Levels and pesticide residues in food in Great Britain.
Fidra
Research and resources exploring PFAS, including PFAS pesticides and their environmental impact.
University of York
Research into pesticide residues and food preparation.
