Blog

The Food and Agriculture Organization defines pesticides as "substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate any pest. In conventional food production, pesticides are used to prevent harms to crop yields". The problem is that research has linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases. Pesticides also leech nutrients from soil and pollute water resources. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an organization dedicated to protecting public health and the environment, tested  44 different fruits and vegetables to determine their pesticide levels.  The EWG also drafted a list of the "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean 15" as a guide for shopping produce. We've summarized both sets of information below:

DIRTY DOZEN- BUY THESE ORGANIC

1. Apples- 98% of conventional apples have pesticides,  92% of tested samples had at least 2 or more different pesticides
2. Celery- Highly contaminated, samples were tested and came up positive for 57 different pesticides
3. Strawberries- Tests showed 13 different pesticides on a single sample
4. Peaches- 86% of tested samples contained 2 or more pesticides per sample
5. Spinach- 70% of samples contained pesticides
6. Nectarines (imported)- 91% of tested samples contained 2 or more pesticides per sample
7. Grapes (imported)- Tests showed 14 different pesticides per sample
8. Grapes (domestic)- Test showed 13 different pesticides per sample
9. Sweet Bell Peppers- Tests showed 11 different pesticides per sample
10. Potatoes- 91.4% of tested samples contained pesticides
11. Blueberries (domestic) Tests showed 4 different pesticides per sample
12. Lettuce- Treated with as many as 66 different pesticides, 68% of samples tested contained pesticides
13. Kale/Collard Greens- Treated with as many as 66 different pesticides
14. Carrots- 82% of carrots contained pesticides

CLEAN 15- Lowest in Pesticides

1. Onions- Conventional onions are clean, < 1% of samples tested for pesticides
2. Sweet Corn (frozen)- Although conventional corn has less pesticides it is still recommend that consumers buy organic corn because 98% of frozen and fresh corn is genetically modified
3. Pineapples- < 8% of samples tested positive for pesticides
4. Avocado- <1% of samples tested had pesticides
5. Asparagus- 90% of samples tested had no detectable pesticides
6. Sweet Peas- 77% of samples tested at no detectable pesticides
7. Mangoes- Only 7% of samples tested positive for pesticides
8. Eggplant- 75% of samples tested had no detectable pesticides
9. Cantaloupe (domestic)- The average number of pesticides found on the samples was <1. Less than 20% of samples contained more than one pesticide.
10. Kiwi- Average number of pesticides found on each sample was <1. Less than 4% of samples contained more than one pesticide.
11. Cabbage- 82% of samples tested had no detectable pesticides
12. Watermelon- Average number of pesticides found on each sample was <1. 28% of samples contained pesticides, only 9.6 % contained more than one.
13. Sweet Potatoes- Average number of pesticides found on each sample was <1. Less than 6% of samples had more than 1 pesticide.
14. Grapefruit- Average number of pesticides found on each sample was <1. Only 17.5 percent of samples contained more than one pesticide.
15. Mushrooms- Average number of pesticides found on each sample was <1.

For more information about the EWG's pesticide data, please visit the website at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/.