For those who think pesticides “just wash off”— think again.
I purchased both sets of these potatoes on the same day, from the same store, and have been stored exactly the same.
Both of them are Russets. One potato is organic, and one potato is not.
One potato has been sprayed with CHLORPROPHAM* post harvest, and one has not.
I went to use the potatoes for a dish I’ve been wanting to experiment with — and saw one set was already sprouting, which is a natural process of a potato.
Chlorpropham is a spouting suppressant that is sprayed on potatoes post harvest, to allow them to have a longer shelf life. My organic potato was NOT sprayed with this post harvest, and therefore, sprouts are forming.
Sprouting suppression is the last chemical, of the intensive pesticide/herbicide process potatoes go through.
During growing season, they are sprayed with fungicides.
Before harvest, they’re sprayed with herbicides and pesticides.
After being dug-up, they’re then spraying with a sprouting suppressant.
Potatoes are root vegetables, which means they grow, and develop under ground, in the soil. Everything that touches the soil, is then soaked up into the potato as it grows, develops and matures. There’s no “rinsing” pesticides off a root vegetable. It’s in the skin, and it’s in the flesh.
Lab animals with chronic exposure to Chlorpropham, showed “impeded growth, with increased liver, kidney and spleen weights — and eventual death. It also is incredibly toxic to Honey Bees.
According to Jeff Moyer, former chair of the National Organic Standards Board, has said that most potato farmers won’t eat the crop they grow for market, and will typically have a separate plot for their personal potatoes.
You can see that the non-organic variety has also been altered genetically/dna to be almost twice the size of the organic variety, which has been shown to reduce nutrient density as well.
I paid double the price, for half the potatoes for the organic version. Worth it for potatoes that don’t marinate in chemicals.