The EWG Produce Guide

An Environmental Working Group simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead.

• Nectarines had the highest percentage of samples test positive for pesticides, followed by peaches and apples.
• Peaches had the highest likelihood of multiple pesticides on a single sample followed by nectarines and apples.
• Peaches and apples had the most pesticides detected on a single sample with nine pesticides on a single sample, followed by strawberries where eight pesticides were found on a single sample.
• Apples had the most pesticides overall with some combination of up to 50 pesticides found on the samples tested, followed by peaches with 42 pesticides strawberries with 38.

Sweet bell peppers, celery, lettuce, spinach, and potatoes are the vegetables most likely to expose consumers to pesticides.

The vegetables least likely to have pesticides on them are onions, sweet corn, asparagus, sweet peas, cabbage, broccoli, and eggplant.

The five fruits least likely to have pesticide residues on them are avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, and bananas.

Read on for the full list and how to download a consumer guide of your own.

The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies

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)

Note: They ranked a total of 44 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.

For a free copy of your consumer guide, click here.

Comments

[David Goldbeck]

What a sad commentary on our agricultural system. The other half is that an unhealthy level of kids don't eat these important foods.
This is my attempt to make a dent in kid's poor diets.
This new resource is being used to improve kid’s nutritional status is a new book “The ABC’s of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond.” Out only a few months and already being bought in quantity for class use. I hope parents and teachers interested in getting kids to develop a friendly attitude towards fruits and vegetables should take a look at it.
It is designed for kids of all ages as it is two books in one – children first learn their alphabet through produce poems and then go on to hundreds of related activities. Coauthored by best-selling food writer David Goldbeck and Jim Henson writer Steve Charney. HealthyHighways.com