Buying organic food can be overwhelming and expensive. It’s pretty unrealistic for us to go 100% organic in our households, so we should focus on the foods that contain the highest amounts of pesticides and always buy organic for these foods. I pulled this info straight from a really informative green blog: www.thedailygreen.com.
According to the Environmental Working Group, consumers can reduce their pesticide exposure by 80% by avoiding the most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating only the cleanest. If consumers get their USDA-recommended 5 daily servings of fruits and veggies from the 15 most contaminated, they could consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat the 15 least contaminated conventionally grown produce ingest less than 2 pesticides daily.
EWG has been publishing guides to the “dirty dozen” of most pesticide contaminated foods since 1995, based on statistical analysis of testing conducted by the USDA and the FDA. On the flipside, EWG also publishes the “Clean 15” lowest in pesticides. Below are the lists for you to refer to the next time you’re at the grocery store.
THE DIRTY DOZEN (worst offenders, always buy organic)
1) Celery
2) Peaches
3) Strawberries
4) Apples
5) Blueberries
6) Nectarines
7) Bell Peppers
8) Spinach
9) Kale
10) Cherries
11) Potatoes
12) Grapes (imported)
THE CLEAN 15 (best with the lowest amounts of pesticides, don’t necessarily need to buy organic)
1) Onions
2) Avocado
3) Sweet Corn
4) Pineapple
5) Mangos
6) Sweet Peas
7) Asparagus
8) Kiwi
9) Cabbage
10) Eggplant
11) Cantaloupe
12) Watermelon
13) Grapefruit
14) Sweet Potato
15) Honeydew Melon
Happy organic shopping, Smarties!
3 comments
Great post Jen – so helpful as we make our way down the grocery aisles or the Farmer's markets. In our home, we've decided to do our best to go as organic or hormone free – as possible. Every little bit helps – thanks again.nanine
Thanks for posting this! I have seen this before somewhere, but it has been a while so it's great to see it again. I need to print it out and save it for future shopping reference!
I've also heard bananas can be added to the clean list, and rice should be added to the dirty list. Consider that especially when buying your infants rice cereal – both Gerber and Earth's Best have an organic option.