The updated dirty dozen, new clean 15

The Envi­ron­men­tal Work­ing Group has updated its list of the most pes­ti­cide con­t­a­m­i­nated pro­duce noto­ri­ously known as the “Dirty Dozen.” They’ve also put together a list of the “Clean 15,” which are the least con­t­a­m­i­nated fruits and veg­gies. The idea behind the lists is to give shop­pers an idea of where they might want to spend their dol­lars for organic purchases.

A few items have moved around in posi­tion on the list like apples and cel­ery. Apples now top the list due to the amount of fungi­cides and pes­ti­cides being applied after har­vest to extend the produce’s shelf life. EWG notes that as a cat­e­gory, “peaches have been treated with more pes­ti­cides than any other pro­duce, reg­is­ter­ing com­bi­na­tions of up to 57 dif­fer­ent chem­i­cals. Apples were next, with 56 pes­ti­cides and rasp­ber­ries with 51.” Find out more about their report, includ­ing a look at the entire list of the 53 fruits and veg­gies tested, at the web­site below or by call­ing 202–667-6982.

The Shopper’s Guide to Pes­ti­cides in Pro­duce, which you can down­load and print a pocket ver­sion of for your­self at ewg.org/foodnews/, is meant to help you reduce your pes­ti­cide expo­sure as much as pos­si­ble. The group esti­mates that indi­vid­u­als can reduce their expo­sure by 80 per­cent if they switch to organic when buy­ing these 12 foods. How­ever, EWG stresses that eat­ing conventionally-grown pro­duce (non-organic) is still bet­ter than eat­ing none at all. The report clearly states: “The health ben­e­fits of a diet rich in fruits and veg­eta­bles out­weigh the risks of pes­ti­cide exposure.”

Thanks to reader Sophie H. for call­ing my atten­tion to the new and updated lists.

The Dirty Dozen

1. Apples

2. Cel­ery

3. Straw­ber­ries

4. Peaches

5. Spinach

6. Nec­tarines (imported)

7. Grapes (imported)

8. Sweet bell peppers

9. Pota­toes

10. Blue­ber­ries (domestic)

11. Let­tuce

12. Kale/collard greens

The Clean 15

1. Onions

2. Corn

3. Pineap­ples

4. Avo­cado

5. Aspara­gus

6. Sweet peas

7. Man­goes

8. Egg­plant

9. Can­taloupe (domestic)

10. Kiwi

11. Cab­bage

12. Water­melon

13. Sweet potatoes

14. Grape­fruit

15. Mush­rooms

Tues­day Trip­pier lives in Delaware, is a writer and mother of three, soon to be four, with a spe­cial inter­est in learn­ing about green living.

Posted by Tuesday Trippier on Jul 28 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.