Today, it’s all about healthy choices and, at Perrine’s Produce, we continually strive to give our customers fresh, delicious, healthy choices.

Organic products are those farmed without the use of pesticides or chemicals. However, using harmful chemicals to farm is still commonplace. It’s been a longstanding practice of many farmers to use pesticides to keep pesky bugs from making a meal out of their fruit and vegetable crops. Additionally, herbicides help to keep weeds from competing for valuable nutrients in the soil.

There are some very nasty pesticides used on apples, some of which are even outlawed in Europe! These pesticides are found mostly on the skin, but the skin is the healthiest part of the apple. The good news is that the cost differential of organic verses non-organic is one of the lowest with apples. Stone fruits are not so lucky. Even if peeled, traces of chemicals can be found on stone fruit; and with vigilant scrubbing and peeling, potatoes can still contain harmful chemicals as well.

More porous veggies, like leafy greens, and fragrant fruits, like grapes, are particularly susceptible to damage from bugs, so – you guessed it – they are treated pretty heavily with pesticides. Cucumbers can be treated with a petroleum-based wax to preserve freshness, so best to buy them locally grown and untreated. Traditionally farmed berries can contain up to 20 different pesticides, which can also affect your jellies and jams. It can all be kind of scary.

Traditional animal farming also uses lots of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and hormones. Conversely, organic farming is proven to improve the health of farming animals as well as produce healthier products – such as milk, cheese and eggs – for human consumption.

One of the healthy choices we can make is buying organic products. Perrine’s Produce is proud to offer its customers a varied selection of organic items.