Forever Chemicals in Vegetables. Forever Chemicals in TV Chef shows

We enjoy a tasty, healthy, nourishing diet, eating food on our table that has come straight out of the earth.

Sadly, the truth remains hidden from view.

A UK government report in 2025 found cancer-linked pesticides in common UK fruits and vegetables. People shopping for food in supermarkets and elsewhere may well have purchased some of the 3,482 food and drink samples with pesticide residues.

Meanwhile, TV chefs prepare dinners, salads and desserts to stimulate the taste buds of viewers. Major competitions, such as The Great British Bake Off, attract large audiences where food experts taste the culinary delights of cooks to see who goes into the next round.

• Is there any mention of ethics on these shows?

• Do the chefs or their audience share knowledge of food-related life-threatening illnesses?

• Is there any mention of ‘forever chemicals’ in any of these shows?

• Do our TV chefs speak about the terrible harm caused by daily consumption of UPFs?

• Do TV chefs refer to treatment on farms/abattoirs involving animals, birds and fish?

These TV shows rely on the sensations of pleasure in watching and listening. It seems taste matters far above cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease due to diet.

What about the elephant in the TV studio?

Report of PAN to Government Report

Campaigners from the Pesticide Action Network UK (Pan UK), who analysed the quarterly test results, said they detected 123 different chemicals across 17 types of fruit and vegetables. There were substances linked to cancer, neurotoxicity and hormone disruption

For example, much-loved succulent grapes can carry residues of up to sixteen pesticides, including so‑called forever chemicals that linger throughout our lives in the body and for centuries in the ground. Built up in soil and water, these chemicals end up in our bodies.

Alongside UPFs (ultra-processed), food such as grapefruit, limes, bananas, sweet peppers, melons and broccoli can form a cocktail of chemicals affecting our health in the long term.

Some of our TV chefs have earned a household name for their creative approach for food while not mentioning the elephant in our kitchen.

Some of the chefs have become household names in the UK such as

• Gordon Ramsay (Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, Kitchen Nightmares).

• Jamie Oliver (The Naked Chef, Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals).

• Nigella Lawson (Nigella Bites, Nigella Express).

• Mary Berry (The Great British Bake Off).

• Delia Smith (How to Cook, Delia’s How to Cheat at Cooking).

• Rick Stein (Rick Stein’s Seafood Odyssey and travel–food series).

Amonst our food celebrities, who will come forward and speak in their shows about real food and real issues facing shoppers?

It is not easy trying to live a conscious and caring life when the food and drink industry uses plastic to wrap up food in, selling billions of bottles made of plastic due to pollution of tap water.

Officials reassure us that the amount of chemicals sits below the threshold. How can food scientists measure the diversity of food/ drink, plus all the forever chemicals in pesticides, additives affecting the health of millions of people with various vulnerabilities and genetic influences? The physical organism does not seem resilient to constant abuse.

Doctors and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Doctors work as employees of the pharmaceutical industry. Many received little education about diet and health in their five years of training. You are sick, so you go to see your doctor. Does your doctor go into any depth in the causes and conditions of your sickness? Even if the doctor has the knowledge and insights, the same physician does not have the time with an average of six minutes with a patient.

There is an elephant in the room where we see our doctor.

So, you get a prescription of more chemicals while carrying on much the same old way. What chance do you have of staving off a present or future health crisis if we continue putting the same harmful substances in our mouth?

Changing the causes and conditions for sickness and suffering matter. Really matter. The pharmaceutical industry has no real interest in changing causes for widespread illhealth. There is another elephant in much of the food industry.

Pesticides can become more toxic when combined. Food scientists know little about the way chemicals in the body interact with each other.

What is the proof of the above? Apart from accidents, genetic vulnerabilities, viruses and ageing, most citizens find themselves sick in hospital due to food, drink, cigarettes, drugs, prescription and recreational.

Farmers in the UK and the rest of the world put chemicals into the ground annually, so the soil becomes increasingly polluted. Each step towards clean, organic fruit and vegetables means a movement towards safety for farm workers, right to life for farm animals, clean rivers and a respectful inheritance for the current and future generations.

We eat to live, not to die a long, lingering death.

The government needs to pass laws to stop pesticides infecting our food.

Let us point out the elephant in our midst.

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