Farm chemicals

[upmep]

Has anyone seen any articles on farm chemicals in maple syrup? I collect sap from trees close to farm fields. Then you boil it down and concentrate it. Cancer is on the rise in a lot of places. What are people’s thoughts.

[Scm]

Has anyone seen any articles on farm chemicals in maple syrup? I collect sap from trees close to farm fields. Then you boil it down and concentrate it. Cancer is on the rise in a lot of places. What are people’s thoughts.

Would not surprise me at all to find chemicals in maple sap. One thing I looked at when looking for our new home was to stay far away from big AG.

I personally think the biggest problem with maple syrup is the defoamer used.

There is not enough maple eaters to correlate to a rise in cancer. There are many other things that are causing that rise. I wont get into it on this forum.

[DrTimPerkins]

Has anyone seen any articles on farm chemicals in maple syrup?

The only substances that have been widely studied in maple syrup are lead -- which is almost entirely derived from the equipment and NOT from the soil and PFOAs, which don't seem to be taken up by trees, and formaldehyde -- derived from previous use of PFA tablets. The latter (formaldehyde) is no longer an issue. There has been some other work on heavy metals -- for the most part it isn't an issue. Other issues are improper storage of chemicals in the sugarhouse or from fumes from nearby sources (idling equipment, animal sources, etc.). No really much work I know of looking at ag-related chemicals -- fertilizers or herbicides, although there is some research that's been done looking at liming/fertilization on health/growth and sap/sugar production in maple trees.

The lack of info isn't unusual for the vast majority of foods. There are tens of thousands of "chemicals." Where do you start to look?