HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 May 1943, Page 6

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

SPRAY RESIDUE ON APPLES.

CAREFUL WIPING ADVISABLE.

(By the Health Department.)

While every care is taken to see that apples bearing excess spray residue do not reach the market, there is always a possibility that a small amount of spray is retained on the fruit, and for that reason careful wiping or washing before eating is advisable. A spraying programme is absolutely necessary to ensure sound fruit. The danger comes from any spray that might have been left on the fruit. Sulphur or lime will not cause any trouble, but lead or arsenic will if present in large amounts. One investigation seemed to indicate that the amount of lead present on sprayed apples was too small to be of any importance, but a substantial quantity of arsenic, in the form, of a lead arsenic compound, has occasionally been found on apples. For example, a sample of apples taken from a case delivered to a school last year showed on analysis arsenic present considerably in excess of the permitted maximum. This permitted maximum is fixed at a level which will not affect health. Actually it would require the consumption of 251bs. of apples with the permitted maximum of spray residue thereon to supply the maximum daily dose of arsenic set down in the British Pharmacopoeia as being the safety limit. Parents should see that children wipe or wash apples and pears at home before these are eaten, and impress on them to be sure and do the same at school, paying particular attention to the core indentations. Teachers, too, should help at school by insisting that the apples are wiped thoroughly, or washed, before consumption. I