Are grocery stores that spray mist on fresh produce spraying toxic chemicals?
That’s the claim in two social media videos that appear to have been recorded in the same store.
“If you are buying organic produce at the grocery store, there is something called (ProduceMaxx) on top of all the produce,” a March 31 Instagram video’s narrator said as he stood in the produce section of a Sprouts Farmers Market, part of a grocery store chain specializing in natural and organic foods. The narrator added that ProduceMaxx is “a bunch of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and they’re also spraying antibiotics.”
The Instagram post’s caption said it’s “deceiving” to call the produce organic because “they are drenching” it in pesticides.
A separate video shared the same day on Facebook featured a different person making a similar claim about ProduceMaxx. That video originated on TikTok, where it had more than 24,000 likes. Both videos said the product is so toxic its containers cannot not be disposed of in the regular trash.
We found similar posts being shared on TikTok and X.
These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
(Instagram screenshot)
It’s accurate to call ProduceMaxx a pesticide; it’s registered as an antimicrobial pesticide with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which describes those products as substances used to “destroy or suppress the growth of harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, or fungi on inanimate objects and surfaces.”
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act defines a pesticide as a substance intended for “preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pests.” That includes cleaning products that control bacteria, according to the EPA.
The EPA categorizes pesticides in four ways: conventional (synthetic chemicals used to kill pests); antimicrobial (for microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses or fungi on inanimate objects); biopesticides (derived from natural materials such as animals and plants); and inert ingredients (such as emulsifiers and solvents).
But the social media posts are inaccurate to describe ProduceMaxx as an herbicide, fungicide, insecticide or antibiotic, said Nigel Glennie, a spokesperson for Ecolab, the parent company of ChemStar, which makes ProduceMaxx.
The posts also get it wrong when they say ProduceMaxx can’t be used on organic produce and its containers can’t be thrown away in the regular trash. The product is certified by the Organic Materials Review Institute, an independent organic food standards group, as safe to use in organic food production, and a product safety data sheet says empty containers can be recycled and that unused product can be diluted and flushed into the sewer.
Glennie said although ProduceMaxx appears alongside pesticides in EPA databases, the product is more accurately described as an antimicrobial produce wash. ProduceMaxx kills 99.999% of one type of E.coli, Salmonella enterica and listeria, according to its product label.
ProduceMaxx is “added to water to reduce bacteria on fruit and vegetables, control decay-causing bacteria in hydrating water, and reduce bacterial pathogens on fruit and vegetable surfaces,” said Glennie, who added it helps to extend shelf life and reduce food waste.
Glennie said more than 50 retail brands across more than 10,000 stores in North America use ProduceMaxx. It’s used professionally in grocery and convenience stores, kitchens and food service operations.
ProduceMaxx is used to wash fruits and vegetables — including those cut for packaged products — to crisp produce, and to keep misting lines in stores clean and free of bacteria.
ProduceMaxx label (Chemstar)
ProduceMaxx uses hypochlorous acid as its active ingredient, combined with water and inorganic salt.
Hypochlorous acid occurs naturally in humans and other mammals, and is created by white blood cells to fight infection. It’s also created commercially for skin care products, disinfecting swimming pools, wound care and in dentistry to treat water lines in offices and as a mouth rinse. It is used in health care settings, including to disinfect against COVID-19.
Lauren Frank, a Sprouts Farmers Market spokesperson, confirmed that the grocery chain uses ProduceMaxx in its stores. She said products such as ProduceMaxx “are used extensively in the food industry because they can reduce bacteria and foodborne pathogens.”
Does spraying ProduceMaxx on organic produce mean those foods can no longer be considered organic? No.
ProduceMaxx “may be used in certified organic production or food processing and handling according to the USDA National Organic Program regulations” says a certificate from OMRI, a nonprofit that reviews products intended for use in certified organic production against organic standards.
“If this product is used in accordance with our certificate, then it is compliant for use in certified organic operations,” Organic Materials Review Institute spokesperson Roger Plant said. The institute’s certificate for ProduceMaxx says it may be used in direct contact with food at levels approved by the FDA or EPA.
“Hypochlorous acid is allowed to contact organic produce,” Plant added. He pointed to a Federal Code section about nonorganic substances allowed for use on food labeled as organic that lists hypochlorous acid, the active ingredient in ProduceMaxx.
Typically, produce washed with ProduceMaxx must later be rinsed with water to meet organic standards, but that does not apply to its use in grocery store misting lines. Glennie said ProduceMaxx is more heavily diluted when it’s used in misting lines to meet the EPA’s regulatory standard for chlorine in safe drinking water of 4 milligrams per liter.
Our ruling
An Instagram post said ProduceMaxx sprayed on organic produce at grocery stores contains pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and antibiotics.
ProduceMaxx is EPA-registered as an antimicrobial pesticide, but it’s not a herbicide, fungicide, insecticide or antibiotic.
The product is certified for use on organic food by an independent standards group, and federal law allows its active ingredient, hypochlorous acid, to be used on food labeled organic.
The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.
