FSM 341: What’s in a Strawberry–Naturally Occurring Chemicals

Transcript [Music] From Washington State University Extension, this is Food Safety in a Minute Did you know there are at least 360 naturally occurring chemicals in strawberries? Sugars including glucose, fructose, and sucrose, minerals such as potassium, and vitamins including folate and vitamin C. They also contain naturally occurring chemicals, some of which may pose health risks. For example, salicylates can trigger allergic-like reactions. In some soil conditions, strawberries can uptake cadmium or lead in trace amounts. In processed strawberry jam, furan is produced, classified as a possible human carcinogen. Food is chemically complex. A recent article, May 2025 in the New England Journal of Medicine found more than 139,000 chemicals in food. For perspective, the USDA tracks 150 nutritional components, 13 on our labels. There is much to learn. Thanks for listening, I’m Susie Craig. [Music] Resources Menichetti, Giulia, A Barnabas and J. Loscalzo. Chemical Complexity of Food and Implications for Therapeutics. New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2413243