Non-organic hazards: pesticide levels in fruits & vegetables

Posted on May 12, 2009 under Food Safety | Be the First to Comment

Buying only organic and biological food is often hard if not impossible due to limited supply in certain areas. However, when occasionally opting for non-organic onions or kiwi, you are not actually risking much according to the Environmental Working Group which has published a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, a research of  non-organic fruits & veggies market in the US measuring the content of pesticide in conventional (chemical) foods.

Material below is reproduced under CC from EWG’s Food News. Visit the FoodNews site for more details on the research  methodology and background information.

The Full List: 47 Fruits & Veggies

click here to print the printer-friendly full list.

RANK	FRUIT OR VEGGIE	SCORE
1 (worst)	Peach	100 (highest pesticide load)
2	Apple	93
3	Sweet Bell Pepper	83
4	Celery	82
5	Nectarine	81
6	Strawberries	80
7	Cherries	73
8	Kale	69
9	Lettuce	67
10	Grapes – Imported	66
11	Carrot	63
12	Pear	63
13	Collard Greens	60
14	Spinach	58
15	Potato	56
16	Green Beans	53
17	Summer Squash	53
18	Pepper	51
19	Cucumber	50
20	Raspberries	46
21	Grapes – Domestic	44
22	Plum	44
23	Orange	44
24	Cauliflower	39
25	Tangerine	37
26	Mushrooms	36
27	Banana	34
28	Winter Squash	34
29	Cantaloupe	33
30	Cranberries	33
31	Honeydew Melon	30
32	Grapefruit	29
33	Sweet Potato	29
34	Tomato	29
35	Broccoli	28
36	Watermelon	26
37	Papaya	20
38	Eggplant	20
39	Cabbage	17
40	Kiwi	13
41	Sweet Peas – Frozen	10
42	Asparagus	10
43	Mango	9
44	Pineapple	7
45	Sweet Corn – Frozen	2
46	Avocado	1
47 (best)	Onion	1 (lowest pesticide load)

Note: EWG ranked a total of 47 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because it looked at both domestic and imported samples.