Question from Linda
Hi, Debra, I love your website. There is so much great info on your site for everybody.
I have a question, it is very simple, I use organic white distilled vinegar that i buy at whole foods 365 brand, and it gets expensive to use as much as i do, i use it for cleaning only, heinz distilled is so much cheaper, so my question is is it worth paying extra for organic vinegar for cleaning?
The reason i buy organic is because i am afraid that non organic distilled white vinegar could contain pesticed residues, does it? I have tried to research pesticide residue in distilled vinegar but i could not find any info. I clean my whole house with vinegar, i am afraid if i buy non organic i would be spreading pesticides and other chemical around my house. THANKS FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL INFO.
Debra’s Answer
I use Heinz vinegar for cleaning. We buy in it gallon bottles. Do buy Heinz, as it is made from plants. Some cheaper brands are made from petroleum.
I’ve never noticed any problem with it.
It’s always a better choice to buy organic anything because the pesticides used to grow non-organic plants get into the environment and eventually into our bodies, one way or another. But often the product itself does not have pesticide residues because they are removed during processing. I just smiled because I realized that it “second hand pesticides” are much like “second hand smoke”–the smoker is inhaling the smoke through a filter in the cigarette, but the bystander doesn’t have a filter, so their exposure is worse. Likewise, by the time most products are processed, there is very little pesticide residue (except for produce or flowers, which are not processed), but the pesticides used go into the environment full strength.
I do buy organic apple cider vinegar to eat.
Since vinegar is made from apple juice and corn juice and wine fruits (I didn’t know of the petroleum), and apples have the most pesticide of any fruit/vegetable and corn is GMO and has the pesticide in the gene that is transferred to whoever/whatever consumes it, I googled to discover how much pesticide and pesticide gene is in vinegar. This is the first reference to the question found. Do you have any source of discovery for an answer?
COMMENT FROM DEBRA:
Actually, I don’t have that data. It would depend on the amount of pesticides present in the original foodstuff. And I don’t know if the fermentation process of making vinegar breaks down any of those pesticides.