EWG's 2012 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
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 Pesticides™ to reduce your exposures
as much as possible, but eating conventionally-grown produce is far
better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all. The Shopper's Guide
to Pesticides in Produce™ will help you determine which
fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most
important to buy organic. You can lower your pesticide intake
substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables
and eating the least contaminated produce.
This year we have expanded the Dirty Dozen™ with a Plus
category to highlight two crops -- green beans and leafy greens,
meaning, kale and collard greens - that did not meet traditional Dirty
Dozen ™criteria but were commonly contaminated with highly
toxic organophosphate insecticides. These insecticides are toxic to the
nervous system and have been largely removed from agriculture over the
past decade. But they are not banned and still show up on some food
crops.
Commodity crop corn used for animal feed and biofuels is almost all
produced with genetically modified (GMO) seeds, as is some sweet corn
sold for human consumption. Since GMO sweet corn is not labeled as such
in US stores, EWG advises those who have concerns about GMOs to buy
organic sweet corn.
Dirty Dozen Plus™
Buy these organic
1
Apples
2
Celery
3
Sweet bell peppers
4
Peaches
5
Strawberries
6
Nectarines– imported
7
Grapes
8
Spinach
9
Lettuce
10
Cucumbers
11
Blueberries – domestic
12
Potatoes
Plus
+
Green beans
+
Kale/Greens
+ May contain pesticide residues of special concern
Clean 15™
Lowest in Pesticide
1
Onions
2
Sweet Corn
3
Pineapples
4
Avocado
5
Cabbage
6
Sweet peas
7
Asparagus
8
Mangoes
9
Eggplant
10
Kiwi
11
Cantaloupe - domestic
12
Sweet potatoes
13
Grapefruit
14
Watermelon
15
Mushrooms
