When you’re looking to avoid pesticides in your diet, it’s important to go beyond organic produce. A good place to start is grains, such as cereal, bread, pasta, etc. These crops are also treated with pesticides, especially grains engineered (GMOs) to be resistant to herbicides like glyphosate, which is now considered a probable carcinogen to humans by IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer).

Pesticides in grains aren’t cleared from the food by the time crops are harvested, which means some of the residues make it into your cereal box or loaf of bread and ultimately into your body. Studies, including those by the FDA, EWG, and others, have detected many pesticides in grain-based foods, some at levels exceeding what is considered safe, though there are disagreements on what safe levels are. Because use of pesticides is so widespread, even organic crops can become contaminated, though at much lower levels than those grown ‘conventionally’, e.g. with pesticides.

So buying products made with organic grains can help reduce your exposure to these toxic chemicals. Also, as more of us switch to organic foods, we can reduce the presence of pesticides in our environment, as we support farmers who crop without them. And don’t forget products made with grains. A recent study on German beers, which are made with grains, showed residues of glyphosate.