Hot Ones: What Can Chicken Wings Teach Us About Pesticides?

Image showing pesticide containers on a shelf. — Credit UF/IFAS Photos

It has been too long since I got a blog out. I am sorry, two hurricanes, weeks of travel, and life in general, got the better of me. We are back on schedule from here on out, I promise! Now to somehow unravel this one for you. What on earth am I talking about with Hot Ones: What Can Chicken Wings Teach Us About Pesticides?

Agriculture

I’m going to make you wait a little longer for the pay off, because first there is a clear connection with chicken wings and pesticides. We use pesticides throughout our agricultural systems, which helps us produce food, like chicken wings. I know, big eye roll and groan for forcing these together, but its true. Pesticides are used to control weeds, insects, diseases and pathogens like fungus, bacteria, and more. They are used in the fields to stop these pests, but they may also be used during transport and storage of agricultural goods. In short pesticides are often a critical part of agricultural production. I spend so much time here talking about regulations and safety issues its easy to forget they are a tool integral to food production.

Elevated tractor spraying a corn field. Photo taken 05-20-21

Though pesticides are important for food production, we also must be careful how and when food and pesticides mix. Its easy to agree nobody would make their lunch on the floor of their pesticide storage, its silly.

Food table set up next to pesticide storage clearly saying "no food or drinks" — Chicken wings and pesticides really do go together! DO NOT eat or have food inside pesticide storage or near mix/load sites.

We often store our home chemicals right next to the sink, under the sink, or in other areas where food might be found. Contaminated surfaces are a consideration we should all take into account.

Picture of chemicals under a sink. — Clearly we sometimes keep chemicals near where we have our food!

Well the US EPA takes it into account as well. Pesticides are used while food is being grown, but the EPA takes serious that the pesticide can’t follow that food all the way to your plate. They test for pesticides on food, create regulations that clearly limit the amount that can be in food, and build in a major safety margin for that food. One of the biggest parts of pesticide registration is defining “residues” or how much a person might be exposed to a pesticide in their diet, what that impact could be, and building safety margins in to reduce risks. This could be a whole blog on it’s own, but lets just say pesticides and food don’t mix, and the EPA works hard to ensure that is the case.

picture of chemicals on a shelf over a washing machine — Chemicals next to a baseball glove and Halloween bucket. A side of motor oil with my candy please. Always store chemicals away from food and clothing.

Chicken Wings?

We STILL haven’t hit the chicken wings…well your wait is over, I’m coming in hot now. Those that have seen the show Hot Ones know the host will constantly say “watch out with your eyes”. Any of us that love the pain of hot sauce have probably had some get into our eyes, in our nose, and possibly other very noticeable and sensitive areas! The point is left over hot sauce residue can quickly contaminate other areas and create an immediate problem. The same can apply to pesticides, although we might not have the immediate burning we associate with hot sauce. What can any of us do against the tyranny of hot sauce burn?

With wings and pesticides, the same solution is so simple its almost ridiculous to have to say it. WASH YOUR HANDS! It really is that simple. Even though with pesticides we wear PPE, the label tells us to wash our hands, because it really costs nothing and makes a huge difference. This isn’t A Christmas Story, soap won’t make us blind, it will keep us from being blinded by the hot sauce.

PPE

Moving away from hot sauce and focusing on pesticides, having the proper PPE that fits right makes a huge difference. If your PPE is comfortable and fits properly, you won’t fidget with it. Imagine eating hot wings outside, with poorly fitted sunglasses. They start to slip, you reach up to adjust them, then, the pain, the burn…hot sauce in the eyes! Same thing with PPE. Wearing my safety goggles, but constantly reaching up with my gloved hands to adjust could further expose me. So, spend the money, get the right equipment and make sure it fits. Why don’t we wear gloves when eating hot wings, I know it would look weird, but that burn is real!

Not my best blog I know, but not too shabby either for a challenge from a co-worker. We were eating wings and I was talking about the blog and the challenge was made “I bet you can’t fit chicken wings into a blog”. Oh, ye of little faith, I can shamelessly link anything, so here we are. Pesticides are a critical part of the food production system, but we should protect our food from unwanted pesticides. The same lessons we learn as kids, “wash your hands” and “don’t rub your eyes” work well for a chicken wing challenge and pesticide applications. There we go Hot Ones: What Can Chicken Wings Teach Us About Pesticides? It taught me way more than I thought I could squeeze out of this blog!