How to clean your fruit and vegetables.
Tap water alone leaves most pesticide residue on the surface of your produce. Here is what the research says about washing it properly, and why electrolysis does the job in six minutes.
If removing every last chemical and pathogen from your food with a splash of tap water and one little device sounds too good to be true, that is because it is. But removing up to 99.99% of them is something the science says you can do, and it is something worth doing.
Crop DeTox was designed to bring the cleaning power of nature into your kitchen with a little help from science. No harsh chemicals. No rummaging around in your pantry for extra bicarb or white vinegar. Plain tap water, six minutes, and the device does the work.
The how, the why, and the studies are below.
Three steps. One six-minute cycle.
Commercial kitchens follow a three-sink system to reduce the risk of handling and serving contaminated food. Crop DeTox runs the same three steps in a single six-minute cycle, in plain tap water, on your bench.
Hydrogen-rich water breaks the oil bond.
Most pesticide residue is oil-based, designed to stay on the leaf when it rains. Tap water alone will not lift it. The hydrogen-rich water produced here acts as a de-greasing agent, breaking up the oils so they can wash away.
Hypochlorous acid disinfects the surface.
Oxygen-rich water, also known as hypochlorous acid, is the same germicide our own neutrophils produce. It disinfects the produce surface in minutes, with no detergent and no chlorine bleach.
A final rinse carries it all away.
A final rinse carries away what the first two steps have lifted off the produce. Your fruit and vegetables come out the same shape they went in. Soft berries hold their structure. Leafy greens stay crisp.
Does the science back this up.
There have been many studies conducted around the world into the efficacy of this technology to reduce foodborne illness and the consumption of toxins from our food. Below is a short tour of the research we know well, with links to the original papers and our own independent lab results.
"Conventional methods like washing with tap water or detergent are not effective in removing pesticide residues." — Hao et al., 2015
How we know it removes pesticide residue.
The headline paper. Hao and colleagues tested electrolysed water against three common pesticide residues on spinach, cabbage and leek, then compared it to washing with tap water and with detergent. The differences were not subtle.
Reduction of pesticide residues on fresh vegetables with electrolysed water treatment
Spinach, cabbage and leek were contaminated with three pesticides - acephate, omethoate, and DDVP - then soaked in either electrolysed oxidising (EO) water, electrolysed reducing (ER) water, plain tap water, or detergent. Residues were measured by gas chromatography. Vitamin C was checked before and after.
How we know it reduces bacteria.
Four independent studies, all using electrolysed oxidising water on either food contact surfaces or fresh produce. The pattern is consistent across pathogens and across years of research.
EO water inactivates Listeria, E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in 30 seconds.
EO water was tested against three foodborne pathogens on food contact surfaces. Reductions were measured at 30 seconds of contact.
EO water on tomato surfaces, against E. coli and Salmonella.
Tomatoes contaminated with two pathogens were treated with EO water for ten minutes. Surface integrity was preserved.
EO water on fresh produce, five minutes of exposure.
Antimicrobial properties of EO water tested against bacteria on fresh-cut produce. Five minutes was sufficient for high-level reduction.
Review: principles and applications for food safety and hygiene.
A comprehensive review of the science. The authors summarise more than a decade of studies on E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes, and conclude EO water can reduce populations of all three by over 99% within a short contact time.
What the research means, in numbers.
If we have been eating pesticide residue for decades, is it really that bad.
Pesticides have been used for decades to protect crops and increase yield. Long-term effects on human health have been studied for almost as long. The picture from the published research is not a comforting one, but it is a clear one.
None of this is to alarm anyone. It is to say that if there is a way to reduce the residue load on the food going into our homes, it is worth knowing about. Below are the references behind each of those points.
- Penn State Extension · Potential health effects of pesticides. Chronic exposure linked to birth defects, fetal toxicity, tumour formation, genetic changes and endocrine disruption. Read
- Castro Law Group · Long-term, low-dose exposure associated with brain tumours, lung cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer. Read
- PAN UK · Long-term exposure linked to Parkinson's, asthma, depression, anxiety and ADHD. Read
- Hesperian HealthWiki · Long-term exposure linked to memory loss, mood changes, immune system damage. Read
- IFM · Both short and long-term effects, including cancer risk and endocrine disruption. Read
- AAFP · Chronic low-level exposure linked to carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity and reproductive toxicity. Read
Can a water rinse do the same job.
It is a fair question and one we hear often. A water rinse will lift loose dirt, some surface bacteria, and a small percentage of water-soluble residue. It will not do much about anything that is oil-based or that has bonded with the wax on the skin of the produce. The Penn State Extension paper and the Kim et al. tomato study both make this point in plainer language than we can.
None of this makes a rinse useless. It is still a sensible first move for visibly dirty produce. It is just not the whole job.
Does it affect the nutritional value.
This is the second-most asked question after "does it actually work". The answer in the published research is no - at the cycle length, the water temperature, and the electrode chemistry used in Crop DeTox, nutritional content of the produce stays intact.
Vitamin C is preserved
Hao et al. measured Vitamin C in spinach before and after treatment with both EO and ER water. Levels remained stable. The Su, Liu and Hung review reached the same conclusion across a wider sample including fresh-cut lettuce, even at higher EO water concentrations than a home device produces.
Mineral content unaffected
There is no significant evidence in the reviewed literature that electrolysed water alters the mineral content of fruit and vegetables. The technology operates on the surface, not the cell wall.
Texture and taste hold up
The Kim et al. tomato study specifically checked structural integrity post-treatment and found no significant change. We test the same thing on soft fruit, leafy greens, and root vegetables at our end. Strawberries come out of the cycle the same shape they went in. Spinach stays crisp. Avocados, well, avocados are avocados.
"EO and ER water treatments did not significantly affect the nutritional and sensory qualities of fresh produce." — Su, Liu & Hung, 2007
What is the catch.
This is the part of the page where every product like this usually quietly reveals the catch. There isn't one.
This is not a coffee machine and there are no pods. Everything Crop DeTox needs to clean your produce is already in the device. Keep it on the wireless charging base and it is ready when you are.
As long as there is water in your taps and power in your Crop DeTox, you are set. We do mean tap water specifically - there are small amounts of dissolved salts in municipal water that the electrolysis process needs. If you use filtered or distilled water, check the salinity and add a pinch of salt to the chamber. That is the entire upkeep.
Six minutes. Plain tap water. Real food, gently cleaned.
Crop DeTox 2.0 sits on the bench and runs the three-step electrolysis cycle while you do something else. Lab-tested in Brisbane. Made on the Gold Coast. Two-year warranty.
