Short answer: Yes, but time matters more than most people think. A widely cited 2017 UMass Amherst study soaked apples in a 1% baking soda solution and found it removed 80% of one pesticide (thiabendazole) at 12 minutes and 96% of another (phosmet) at 15 minutes — far outperforming a 2-minute rinse with either tap water or an EPA-approved bleach solution. The catch: a quick splash of baking soda water barely beats plain water. The soak time is what does the work.
What the research actually found
The study (Yang & Lin, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2017) tested apples treated with two common pesticides — thiabendazole, a fungicide, and phosmet, an insecticide — then washed them in a 1% baking soda and water solution. At the industry-standard 2-minute wash time, baking soda already outperformed plain tap water for the same duration. But the real gap showed up with longer soaks: 12 minutes removed 80% of the thiabendazole, and 15 minutes removed 96% of the phosmet. A 15-minute soak followed by a fresh-water rinse eliminated detectable surface residue of both.
For comparison, both plain tap water and an EPA-approved bleach solution at the same 2-minute wash time removed "some, but not all" residue and were described as far less effective than the extended baking soda soak. The likely mechanism: most pesticides are unstable in alkaline conditions, and baking soda's alkalinity breaks the compounds down so they rinse away more easily.
Does soaking longer always help?
Up to a point. The study's own numbers show effectiveness rising sharply between a 2-minute rinse and a 12–15 minute soak — so a quick dunk isn't doing much of the work. But soaking indefinitely isn't the answer either. Extended wet exposure can start to soften delicate produce and speeds up spoilage once it's back in the fridge, which is why most food-safety guidance treats 10–15 minutes as the practical ceiling rather than something to exceed for extra insurance.
Where baking soda falls short
- Surface residue only. Baking soda soaks remove residue sitting on the produce's surface, not pesticide that has penetrated into the flesh. In this study, thiabendazole penetrated up to 80 micrometers deep (about 20% of the applied dose reached the peel/flesh), which is part of why it took longer to fully clear than the insecticide, which penetrated only about 20 micrometers.
- Tested narrowly. The study covered two pesticides on one fruit — apples have roughly 50 pesticides labeled for use on them alone, and different compounds are removed at different rates. The 80–96% figures shouldn't be read as a universal number for every pesticide or produce type.
- Nothing removes systemic pesticides. Compounds absorbed into the plant during growth aren't addressed by any surface wash, baking soda included.
Where this leaves you
The research supports baking soda as a real upgrade over plain water — but only at a real soak time, not a rinse. That's the same tradeoff a food-grade tablet is built around: a fixed, measured dose of sodium bicarbonate (plus citric acid) designed for a practical soak window, so you're not eyeballing "how much baking soda" into a bowl of water or guessing whether 3 minutes was enough. Drop it in, soak for the label's recommended time, rinse, and you're working with the same alkaline chemistry this study found effective — without needing to remember the 12-to-15-minute mark yourself.