12 Foods With the Highest Levels of Pesticides
You’ve probably heard that the fresh fruits and vegetables in your local supermarket might be tainted by pesticides. A nonprofit organization call the Environmental Working Group looked at 51,000 pesticide tests for 53 popular fruits and vegetables and then ranked them based on how much and how many different pesticides were found. The Dirty Dozen is their list of the 12 foods shown to have the highest levels.
Whenever possible, buy the organic versions of these 12 fruits and vegetables.
Dirty Dozen
Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet Bell Pepper
Imported Nectarines
Cucumbers
Cherry Tomatoes
Imported Snap Peas
Potatoes
Dirty Secrets
Here are some of the scary details on the levels of pesticides found on fresh food you’ve probably bought at your local supermarket.
- Every imported nectarine examined tested positive for pesticides
- One sample of strawberries contained 13 different pesticides
- Apples might be treated with 56 different pesticides