Which Produce You Should NEVER Eat Unless It's Organic -- The Dirty Dozen vs Clean 15 (2023)
How to reduce pesticide exposure on your produce
Every year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases a report of produce that is the most contaminated of pesticides as well a a list of the produce with the least amount of pesticide residues. There are too many pesticides used in high quantities on our produce which is why it’s so important to choose organic whenever possible!
A few things from the year’s shoppers guide to note:
The 2023 guide includes data from 46,569 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables.
This year, the report found that almost 75% of non organic produce samples tested positive for at least one pesticide.
The USDA peels or scrubs and washes produce samples before testing, whereas the FDA only removes dirt before testing its samples. Even after these steps, the tests still find traces 251 different pesticides.
A total of 210 pesticides were found on Dirty Dozen items.
Almost 65 percent of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues.
Avocados and sweet corn were the cleanest produce – less than 2 percent of samples showed any detectable pesticides.
No sample from the first six Clean Fifteen items tested positive for more than three pesticides.
Blueberries and green beans are on the Dirty Dozen list this year — both of which contain scary amounts of pesticides (called organophosphate insecticides) that can harm the human nervous system.
The neurotoxic organophosphate insecticide acephate, prohibited from use on green beans in 2011, was detected on six percent of green bean samples.
Cantaloupe was replaced by carrots on the Clean 15 List.
Several green bean samples had residues of acephate, a toxic pesticide, which the EPA banned more than 10 years ago from use on green beans grown for food.
Below is a list of the Dirty Dozen, the Clean 15 and a list of reason why you should start choosing organic foods + how to do it in a cost effective way.
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