The New "Dirty Dozen" and Clean 15

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released its annual Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. The list includes the fruits and vegetables that tested highest and lowest in pesticide levels based on 51,000 tests by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FDA. The “Dirty Dozen” are: apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, imported nectarines, imported grapes, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, domestic blueberries, lettuce, kale/collard greens. The foods that tested lowest in pesticide residues (the “Clean 15”) are: onions, corn, pineapple, avocado, asparagus, sweet peas, mangoes, eggplant, domestic cantaloupe, kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, and mushrooms. The list is helpful for consumers -- who can lower their pesticide consumption by 92 percent by choosing five servings of fruits and vegetables from the “Clean” list rather than the “Dirty” list each day. Still, EWG points out that since 2001 the USDA has detected 215 different pesticides in fresh fruits and vegetables sold in the U.S., and while some produce is less contaminated than others, some level of pesticides were found in 7 out of every 10 samples analyzed.