Seed Potato Dilemma

I didn't look too hard into this but it seems that CIPC is the go-to for sprout control which is a carbamate/chlorpropham chemical. It's been used for 50 years.

CIPC is still in use in PEI...and probably everywhere else. It is fogged onto potatoes as they run on conveyor to storage. CIPC is also used again at bagging, this time sprayed onto potato after any small sprouts are nipped off so it doesn't sprout at store again with in-store lights bearing down on them. A nice touch up so to speak.

Also used in PEI, Canada and US are some alternatives/additions to CIPC for sprout control such as maleic hydrazide, a product called Royal MH 30 XTRA and one called Smart Block. I did not look these up.

And 1 in 3 now will be touched by cancer. Coincidence? This doesn't even talk about all the other pesticides in all our other food from greens to strawberries.
 
It's a shame what we have to do to eat right. I read the other day if a banana gets ripe & the stem is still green it's been chemically treated to ripen before ready. If the stem changes colors with the banana its ripening on its own. I worked ten years in food processing with now the largest grocery chain in the US. Needless to say I see things differently now.
 
Kept my front shop at about 45 degrees this last winter and the Yukon Gold potatoes did fantastic. As of two weeks ago they were just starting to show small sprouts. For baked and mashed potatoes they are hard to beat. We like the reds for fried potatoes.
The part about store bought potatoes being sprayed is interesting and I had not heard that before.
 
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