Can fruit and agricultural medicine be kept and cannot be washed off? Experts reveal that the removal rate of "kitchen dual artifact" reaches 90% step sequence is extremely important

Washing fruits may not be as simple as you think. In the past, we always thought that just a drain of water and bubble salt water would be fine. But some agricultural medicines are "fat-soluble" and cannot be washed away by water at all. They stick tightly to the surface of the peel, and even hide deep in the invisible natural fruit worms on that layer. Salt water or flowing water at best just removes the dust on the surface, and for this strong agricultural medicine, the effect is almost zero.

The secret on grape skins. What is not visible is more worth noting.

Gene doctor Zhang Jiayan said that washing a grape may be the first health defense line for the whole family. Because this is not just a cleansing problem, but a healthy choice for yourself and your family. Especially for people with children, growth, or lower immunity at home, how to wash fruits is really much worse.

The research published in the international journal Foods in 2025 has conducted a complete set of serious practical experiments on this issue, and has also put forward clear data and suggestions. The fruits on the market look smooth and beautiful, but in fact, many of the surfaces contain "invisible agricultural medicines". Especially fruits like grapes with thin skin and lots of wormwood are more likely to keep a kind of agricultural medicine called thiabendazole. This is not something rare, but is still legally used in many countries and is commonly seen in fruits such as grapes, apples, strawberries, and lemons.

Moreover, most of these agricultural medicines are fat-soluble and are particularly prone to "stuck" in the peel and basil layer. Clean water and salted bubbles cannot be effectively treated. That is, you can't see it, but it's really still there.

Agriculture drug is not an urban saying: Be careful about the toxicity of thiabendazole.

Or maybe you would think: Agriculture drugs meet the standards? Is there really a problem? In fact, although thiabendazole is legally used in many countries, it does not mean that it is completely harmless. According to animal experiments, its acute toxicity is not high, but long-term trace infiltration may still bring some potential risks. For example:

• increased liver cervical aid; increased hepatic enzymes; may interfere with thyroid hormone balance; may cause neurotoxic reactions at high doses; listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency as Group C: Possibly carcinogenic to humans;

For adults, these risks may still be able to bear; but for growing children and weaker resistance, each mouthful of agricultural medicine may accumulate in the body, becoming a chronic health concern.

The most effective way to wash is not folk remedies, but a golden combination from the laboratory

So how to wash it so that you can really wash the agricultural medicine on the fruit? A 2025 study published in the international journal Foods gave us a very practical and home-cooked answer. This method is not a high-tech cleaner or imported specialty medicine, but two things that may be found in the kitchen: corn flour and small sour flour. This is the most effective method of washing fruits at home at present, and the operation method is simple enough for everyone to get started:

Step 1: 2% corn powder water, soak the fine particles of corn powder for 5 minutes, just like a small natural suction plate, which can grasp the agricultural molecules attached to the peel. It is not used for swelling, but relies on physical adsorption, such as "absorbing" agricultural drugs hidden on the skin.

Step 2: Fill 5% Su with water, continue soaking for 5 minutes

Next, change Su with water and put it on the scene. It is weakly singular and can combine the stalk on the surface of the peel with fat-soluble agricultural medicines, and decompose the chemical structure of certain agricultural medicines through singular hydrolysis, so that they are more likely to be wiped away.

This combination of absorbing and decomposing one does not produce one plus one, but a coherent effect. According to the results of the experiment, after this cleaning, more than 90% of the agricultural drug residues can be effectively removed. Whether it is on grapes, apples, lemons or strawberries, the effect has been measured and very clear.

Research data highlights: The evidence that you can really wash off

Soak it in 2% corn powder for 5 minutes, and then soak it in 5% simmer for 5 minutes. Removal rate: 94.13% (single agricultural medicine), 91.78% (including nonionic surfactant).

If you only use one of the steps, the effect will be greatly reduced: use only corn flour: the removal rate is about 70.27%, and use only Xiaosu to make water: the removal rate is about 74.15%.

Which only uses water? The removal rate of agricultural medicines washed with clean water is generally less than 20%. On grapes, apples, lemons, strawberries and other fruits, only about 18-19% of thiabendazole is removed. This also proves one thing again: fat-soluble agricultural medicines can be sticky and hidden deep, and water can't wash them off.

The order is effective. If the method is wrong, it will be useless. There is a small key here. The order cannot be reversed, nor can it be mixed together. Why? Because if you beat the squid first, the surface of the peel will slip and the corn powder will not be able to be absorbed well; if the two are mixed with bubbles, the beat the squid will make the squid deeper, and the effect will be reduced. This is the most exquisite part of this combination: adsorption first and then decompose it is the most powerful cleaning process.

Commercially available cleaners are also useful, but some ingredients are not recommended to enter. Research has also tested several fruit and vegetable cleaners on the US market. One of them is quite eye-catching, with a farm drug removal rate exceeding 90%, which is almost comparable to the home formula of corn flour and sausage. But the problem is that although the bottle of the product is effective, the ingredients contain surfactants like lauryl glucoside, which have not been approved by the U.S. FDA for ready-to-eat fruits or ingredients that can be eaten directly. In other words, no matter how clean it is, it does not mean that you can eat it directly after washing. This also reminds us again that strong results do not mean that they are suitable for daily use. Natural, safe and accessible are the first principles for home use.

The washing method is slightly different for different fruits. Strawberries should be treated gently.

This cleaning process is very stable on grapes, apples, and lemons. But for strawberries, you should pay a little attention. The strawberry pulp is softer and thinner. If soaked for too long in Xiaosu, it will become softer and fade. It is recommended that strawberries only soak corn flour in this step, or shorten the soaking time to 2-3 minutes to maintain the taste and appearance.