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What you should know
Eating conventionally-grown produce (in other words, food that is not organic) can expose you to pesticides. Depending on the dose, some pesticides may increase your risk for cancer, learning disabilities or other health concerns. This is especially the case for children. Farms that use pesticides to grow produce expose their fieldworkers to these toxic substances at high concentrations. These pesticides can also end up in our drinking water.
What you can do
- Eat organic food, which is the best choice if you can find and afford it. In some grocery stores, organic food is more expensive, but a local farmers market may have organic or less pesticide-intensive food that is more affordable.
- Buy organic varieties of the fruits and vegetables that are typically more contaminated, and save money by choosing conventional varieties of produce that are typically less contaminated. Avoid the most contaminated produce as much as possible.
- Become a member of community-supported agriculture— a program in which local farms will deliver a box of produce (often organic) to your door or a drop-off place in your neighborhood.
- Rinse and scrub your produce with a vegetable brush to reduce pesticide residues.
Here is a list of fruits and veggies and their pesticide load
|
RANK
|
FRUIT OR VEGGIE
|
SCORE
|
|
1 (worst)
|
Peaches
|
100 (highest pesticide load)
|
|
2
|
Apples
|
96
|
|
3
|
Sweet Bell Peppers
|
86
|
|
4
|
Celery
|
85
|
|
5
|
Nectarines
|
84
|
|
6
|
Strawberries
|
83
|
|
7
|
Cherries
|
75
|
|
8
|
Lettuce
|
69
|
|
9
|
Grapes - Imported
|
68
|
|
10
|
Pears
|
65
|
|
11
|
Spinach
|
60
|
|
12
|
Potatoes
|
58
|
|
13
|
Carrots
|
57
|
|
14
|
Green Beans
|
55
|
|
15
|
Hot Peppers
|
53
|
|
16
|
Cucumbers
|
52
|
|
17
|
Raspberries
|
47
|
|
18
|
Plums
|
46
|
|
19
|
Oranges
|
46
|
|
20
|
Grapes-Domestic
|
46
|
|
21
|
Cauliflower
|
39
|
|
22
|
Tangerine
|
38
|
|
23
|
Mushrooms
|
37
|
|
24
|
Cantaloupe
|
34
|
|
25
|
Lemon
|
31
|
|
26
|
Honeydew Melon
|
31
|
|
27
|
Grapefruit
|
31
|
|
28
|
Winter Squash
|
31
|
|
29
|
Tomatoes
|
30
|
|
30
|
Sweet Potatoes
|
30
|
|
31
|
Watermelon
|
25
|
|
32
|
Blueberries
|
24
|
|
33
|
Papaya
|
21
|
|
34
|
Eggplant
|
19
|
|
35
|
Broccoli
|
18
|
|
36
|
Cabbage
|
17
|
|
37
|
Bananas
|
16
|
|
38
|
Kiwi
|
14
|
|
39
|
Asparagus
|
11
|
|
40
|
Sweet Peas-Frozen
|
11
|
|
41
|
Mango
|
9
|
|
42
|
Pineapples
|
7
|
|
43
|
Sweet Corn-Frozen
|
2
|
|
44
|
Avocado
|
1
|
|
45 (best)
|
Onions
|
1 (lowest pesticide load)
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The produce ranking was developed by analysts at the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005. A detailed description of the criteria used in developing the rankings is available as well as a full list of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been tested (see below).
EWG is a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food. For more information please visit www.ewg.org.
Note: We ranked a total of 44 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.
View Full Data Set
Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce by Environmental Working Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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