So you can’t afford to eat organic, but worry about pesticides? The Environmental Working Group has some helpful information for you.
The organization, which annually ranks pesticide contamination on 48 popular fruits and vegetables based on an analysis of more than 28,000 samples taken by the USDA and FDA., has put out its latest report ranking which are the cleanest and which are the dirtiest. It’s good news if you love cabbage, not so good if you devour apples.
• The most contaminated fruits are apples, strawberries, grapes, peaches and imported nectarines.
• The most contaminated vegetables are celery, spinach, sweet bell peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and hot peppers.
• The average potato had much higher total weight of pesticides than any other food crop.
• A single grape tested positive for 15 pesticides. The same was true for a single sweet bell pepper. Single samples of celery, cherry tomatoes and sweet bell peppers tested positive for 13 different pesticides apiece.
• Every sample of imported nectarines tested positive for pesticides, followed by apples; 99 percent of apple samples tested positive for at least one pesticide residue.
• The organization’s Clean Fifteen™ for 2013 – the produce least likely to test positive for pesticide residues – are pineapple, papaya, mango, kiwi, cantaloupe, grapefruit, corn, onion, avocado, frozen sweet peas, cabbage, asparagus, eggplant, sweet potatoes and mushrooms.
The full ranking of fruits and vegetables is here.