Want to reduce your family’s exposure to pesticides, but don’t know where to start? The Environmental Working Group has done all the research for you, and then created the Dirty Dozen™ and Clean Fifteen™ lists. The Dirty Dozen™ is the list of those fruits and vegetables that have the highest amount of pesticide residue. This is where you want to invest in organic produce. Save money by buying the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables on the Clean Fifteen™ list. These have the lowest amount of pesticide residue.
Complete List of Fruits & Veggies Evaluated for Pesticides
lower numbers = more pesticide
1. Apples
2. Strawberries
3. Grapes
4. Celery
5. Peaches
6. Spinach
7. Sweet Bell Peppers
8. Nectarines (imported)
9. Cucumbers
10. Potatoes
11. Cherry Tomatoes
12. Hot Peppers
13. Blueberries (domestic)
14. Lettuce
15. Snap Peas (imported)
16. Kale / Collard Greens+
17. Cherries
18. Nectarines (domestic)
19. Pears
20. Plums
21. Raspberries
22. Blueberries (imported)
23. Carrots
24. Green Beans
25. Tangerines
26. Summer Squash+*
27. Broccoli
28. Winter squash
29. Green Onions
30. Snap Peas (domestic)
31. Oranges
32. Tomatoes
33. Honeydew Melon
34. Cauliflower
35. Bananas
36. Watermelon
37. Mushrooms
38. Sweet Potatoes
39. Cantaloupe
40. Grapefruit
41. Kiwi
42. Eggplant
43. Asparagus
44. Mangoes
45. Papayas*
46. Sweet Peas (frozen)
47. Cabbage
48. Avocados
49. Pineapples
50. Onions
51. Sweet Corn*!
+ Did not meet Dirty Dozen criteria but were contaminated with pesticides exceptionally toxic to the nervous system.
* A note about GMOs: Genetically modified crops in the U.S. include soy (94%), cotton (90%), canola (90%), sugar beets (95%), corn (88%), Hawaiian papaya (+50%), zucchini and yellow squash (+24,000 acres). Avoid GMOs by buying organic. Source
! Nearly all field corn is produced with genetically modified seeds and is used to make tortillas, chips, corn syrup, animal feed and biofuels. It is not sold as a fresh vegetable. Source
Take Home Message
Rest assured, the take home message is not to avoid fruits and vegetables. On the contrary, it is important for robust health, to eat a variety of produce. If buying organic is not within your budget then perhaps focus on those fruits and vegetables that are lower in pesticide residue. Don't be afraid to shop around either. At our local conventional grocery store, the price of organic produce, is twice what our natural food co-op or even Whole Foods charges. Also shop the large discount warehouses. We make a weekly trip to Coscto for organic varieties of salad greens, frozen and fresh berries, salsa, tomato sauce, lemon juice, frozen broccoli, frozen green beans, apples and carrots as well other organic non-produce items.
Recommended Resource
| Written by my friends Mira and Jayson Calton of Calton Nutrition, Rich Food Poor Food is a must have resource. With nearly 40,000 items populating the average supermarket today, this book, is a unique guide that steers the consumer through the grocery store aisles, directing them to health enhancing Rich Food options while avoiding health detracting Poor Food ones. Rich Food, Poor Food is unique in the grocery store guide arena in that rather than rating a particular food using calories, sodium, or fat as the main criteria, it identifies the products that contain wholesome, micronutrient-rich ingredients that health-conscious shoppers are looking for, while avoiding over 150 common unwanted Poor Food ingredients such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, refined flour, GMOs, MSG, artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners, pesticides, nitrites/ nitrates, gluten, and chemical preservatives like BHA and BHT. |
Over four hundred chemical pesticides are routinely used in conventional farming, many of which are known to cause cancer and lead to problems of the nervous and endocrine system. Rich Food, Poor Food
