EWG has a wonderful website worth checking out. They list the most pesticide contaminated products as the Dirty Dozen and the least contaminated as the Clean Fifteen.
Here are the ones that made their most recent list in 2015…
- Apples
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Celery
- Spinach
- Sweet Bell Peppers
- Cucumbers
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Imported Snap Peas
- Potatoes
- Avocadoes
- Sweet Corn (organic non GMO)
- Pineapple
- Cabbage
- Frozen Sweet Peas
- Onions
- Asparagus
- Mangos
- Papayas (organic)
- Kiwi
- Eggplant
- Grapefruit
- Cantaloupe
- Cauliflower
- Sweet Potatoes
These lists help you make better choices at the market and if you have a garden spot, it can help you decide what to grow and what to buy.
It should be noted that even consuming the worst offenders is better for your health than eating processed or junk food so don’t use the dirty dozen as an excuse to give up on fruit and vegetables!
As EWG writes on its site “Eat your fruits and vegetables! The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. Use EWG’s Shopper’s Guide™ to reduce your exposures as much as possible, but eating conventionally grown produce is better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all.”
Garden Trivia 