You've probably heard of the Dirty Dozen before when it comes to buying organic. The Environmental Working Group developed this list a few years ago and found that consumers could cut their pesticide exposure by 90% by eating the "clean" products and staying away from the most contaminated ones. These foods do change every year but I thought some of you would be interested to know the best and worst foods to buy in regards to pesticides.
Dirty Dozen 2011
1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (Imported)
7. Grapes (Imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries (Domestic)
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/Collard greens
Clean Fifteen 2011
1. Onions
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe (Domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms
So you see, you don't need to buy everything organic. Honestly, apples are probably the produce I buy the most of and I don't ever buy it organic. But I've definitely been thinking about it lately. It's just nice to know which ones are "dirty" so you can keep it in the back of your mind if that's important to you. For example, 98% of the apples they tested had pesticides on them. Yikes!
You can download this list as a PDF from here. Carry it with you!
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