Every year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) compiles a list of fruits and vegetables and ranks them from most to least-contaminated by pesticides. Their mission is to make food supply more transparent in order to help you decide when it’s worth spending extra for organic produce.
For the fifth year in a row, apples have topped the “dirty” list, because of the chemicals applied to the crop before and after harvest to preserve them.
Here are the “Dirty Dozen” – the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables:
- Apples
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Celery
- Spinach
- Sweet bell peppers
- Cucumbers
- Cherry tomatoes
- Snap peas (imported)
- Potatoes
ALWAYS buy organic when you purchase any of the above items. By doing so, you’ll lower your exposure to pesticides by 90 percent.