Buying a carrot at the store should not require extensive background research. Yet following nutrition information can leave you feeling that it is easy to go wrong even in the fruit and vegetable aisle. Some recommend filling your shopping basket with as many colours as possible, while others warn that pesticide residues will end up on your plate along with them. An organic label seems to offer a simple solution, but does it also make vegetables healthier?
How does an organic apple differ from a conventional apple?
First, a brief look at the terminology. Pesticides, also known as plant protection products, are substances used in agriculture to protect plants from pests, diseases and weeds. Pesticide residues are traces of these substances that may remain in food after cultivation, usually in very small amounts.
The difference begins during cultivation, before the apple reaches the shop shelf. An organic label indicates that the product has been grown according to organic farming rules. These restrict the use of fertilisers and plant protection products and require crop rotation, which means growing different crops in the same field in different years.
Organic does not, however, mean pesticide-free cultivation. Organic producers may also use certain substances to control pests and plant diseases, but only those that are approved and are mostly of natural origin. So an organic label does not confirm that the fruit was grown without any pest or disease control products.
Is an organic apple more nutritious?
Some differences in plant composition have indeed been found. A meta-analysis published in 2014, summarising the results of many studies, was based on 343 scientific publications. It found that organic crops contained more polyphenols on average—compounds found in plants, many of which have antioxidant properties. The same analysis also found that pesticide residues occurred about four times more frequently in conventional crops than in organic crops (Barański et al., 2014).
However, this does not mean that every organic apple is more nutritious than every conventional apple. A 2024 systematic review brought together 147 scientific articles and did not find organic food to be generally superior in terms of nutrient content. Differences were found for some foods and some measures, but these depended on exactly what was being compared (Faoro et al., 2024).
The organic label therefore provides reliable information about the production method, but it cannot be used to rank two apples by nutritional value. There may be differences in composition, but whether these matter for human health is a separate question.
Does eating organic food reduce our exposure to pesticides?
What is in food is one thing; what enters the human body is another. To investigate this, researchers have measured pesticides and their breakdown products in urine—that is, substances formed when pesticides break down.
A 2019 US study followed four families (16 people in total) who ate conventional food for six days and then organic food for six days. Switching to organic food reduced the urinary concentrations of several of the pesticides and breakdown products studied. For example, the concentration of a breakdown product of malathion fell by about 95% on average. This figure refers to one measured substance, not to all pesticides or a person's overall health risk. The study was small and short, but it showed that food choices can reduce exposure to several pesticides (Hyland et al., 2019).
Should we worry about residues?
Finding a pesticide residue in food does not necessarily mean that the food is unsafe. To assess this, we need to look at which substances are present in the food and how much a person is likely to ingest when eating it. This involves calculating the approximate amount of residues a consumer ingests through food and comparing the result with toxicological reference values. In addition, the European Union has set maximum residue levels, meaning the highest permitted concentrations.
The European Food Safety Authority's latest report is based on data from 2024. Of the samples from national control programmes, 98,2% complied with the requirements, and the authority assessed the risk to consumer health as low (EFSA, 2026).
An overview of Estonia is provided by the Agriculture and Food Board's 2025 monitoring programme, whose results were published in August 2026. A total of 397 samples were analysed, and four did not comply with the requirements: spinach from Spain, strawberries from Poland and two Estonian grape wines. No residues were found in the organic food or infant food samples. Sampling was risk-based and also included imported products subject to increased controls, so the results may not reflect the average situation across all food on shop shelves.
Exceeding a maximum residue level does not automatically mean a health risk, because these limits are set with a safety margin. For the strawberries and the two wines, a more detailed risk assessment showed that the residues posed no risk to human health. In the spinach, the substance that exceeded the maximum residue level is not considered hazardous to health from a toxicological perspective (Agriculture and Food Board, 2026).
Eating organic food can indeed reduce exposure to several pesticides. Whether this also affects long-term health, however, needs to be assessed separately.
Are people who eat organic food healthier?
Lower exposure to pesticides sounds like a good reason to choose organic food. From a health perspective, however, what ultimately matters is whether people who eat organic food get ill less often. Here, the research findings are less clear.
In 2018, a study was published in France examining whether eating organic food is associated with cancer risk. It involved nearly 69 000 adults who had voluntarily joined a large nutrition study. They completed online questionnaires about what they ate and how often they chose organic food, and researchers followed them for about four and a half years to see who developed cancer.
Those who ate organic food most frequently were about a quarter less likely to develop cancer than the other group. However, this does not mean that organic food itself protected them against cancer. The study observed people's usual diets rather than randomly assigning them to eat organic or conventional food. Frequent consumers of organic food also tend to lead healthier lives in general, and volunteers are usually more interested in health than the average person. This makes it difficult to say whether the difference was due to organic food itself or their overall lifestyle. The authors themselves emphasised that a causal relationship cannot be established on the basis of a single observational study (Baudry et al., 2018).
In a large British study involving over 623 000 women who were followed for about 9.3 years, organic food was not associated with a lower overall cancer risk. The French study, by contrast, linked frequent consumption of organic food to a lower risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. This discrepancy is a good indication that the findings of a single study should not be treated as the final word.
The potential health benefits of organic food therefore warrant further research. At present, there is stronger evidence for reduced exposure to several pesticides than for the direct long-term health benefits of organic food.
Are conventional fruits and vegetables still good for you?
So far, we have been talking about organic food. For many people, however, another question is more important: if conventional fruits and vegetables may contain pesticide residues, is eating them even worthwhile?
The short answer is yes, it is. A 2017 meta-analysis brought together 95 studies and found that the more fruits and vegetables people ate, the lower their risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and premature death (Aune et al., 2017). This is a synthesis of observational studies and does not prove a causal relationship, but the authors nevertheless considered eating more fruits and vegetables beneficial based on the study's findings.
The effects of pesticide residues have also been studied separately. A study by Harvard researchers published in 2022 used data from three long-term follow-up studies and classified fruits and vegetables as having high or low residue levels based on official US monitoring data. People who ate at least four servings of fruits and vegetables with low residue levels per day had a 36% lower risk of death than those who ate less than one serving. No clear association was found for produce with high residue levels: the risk was 7% lower, but this difference could also have been due to chance. The authors suggested that pesticide residues may partially offset the benefits (Sandoval-Insausti et al., 2022).
This does not mean that this produce is harmful, because eating it was not associated with higher mortality. The study is also observational, and residue levels were estimated based on the foods reported in a food frequency questionnaire and national average monitoring data, rather than each person's actual exposure. The result is therefore food for thought, not a definitive conclusion.
How much conventional fruit and vegetables would you have to eat for the harm to start outweighing the benefits? The studies reviewed here have not identified such an amount. If you still want to reduce your exposure to pesticide residues, you can choose organic food if it is affordable, or opt for produce in which residues are found less often. The most important thing, however, is to eat fruits and vegetables at all.
Why choose organic food?
This article examined organic food from a health perspective, but using fewer pesticides also has an impact on the environment. Organically farmed fields have, on average, about a third more species than conventionally farmed fields. Biodiversity is a separate issue from health, but for those who value it, it may be an additional reason to prefer organic food.
In summary
Discussions about nutrition often leave the impression that the choice is between “clean” and “dirty” food.
The reality is usually less dramatic:
An organic label indicates how food is produced, not automatically how healthy it is.
Organic food reduces exposure to several pesticides, but its direct long-term health benefits have not been conclusively proven.
Residues in conventional food generally remain within permitted limits, and official risk assessments indicate that the risk to consumers is low.
The strongest evidence shows that eating fruit and vegetables is beneficial, whether they are organic or conventional.
This article is not a substitute for personalised nutritional or medical advice.
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