Oh my, how could I have almost forgotten about the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen for 2018? Is it just me or is this year just flying right by?! Well as you know, I post this list every year in an effort to share which fruits and vegetables are most heavily sprayed with pesticides and therefore best to buy organic, and which ones are not so necessary to buy organic.
As always, you can visit EWG’s website (Environmental Working Group) for the complete lists, more detailed information on this year’s findings, and to download the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, if you’d like. For more detailed information on topics such as pesticides and whether peeling fruits and vegetables makes a difference, here are a few of the previous Dirty Dozen lists:
Dirty Dozen (produce that is recommended to buy organic)
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
- Sweet bell peppers
If you saw last year’s list you’ll notice that all the same things made the list this year, and once again hot peppers are the addition to the list as nearly three-quarters of the samples contained pesticide residues this year.
Clean Fifteen (produce you don’t have to buy organic)
- Avocados
- Sweet Corn*
- Pineapples
- Cabbages
- Onions
- Sweet peas frozen
- Papayas*
- Asparagus
- Mangoes
- Eggplants
- Honeydew melons
- Kiwis
- Cantaloupes
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
*A small amount of sweet corn, papaya, and summer squash sold in the U.S. is produced from GE seeds. If you want to avoid genetically modified produce, it’s suggested to buy organic varieties.
I hope this list will come in handy with your produce shopping for the rest of the year!