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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] A shopper's guide to pesticides
  • Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:06:45 -0600




A shopper's guide to pesticides
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/12/FD6016U0J8.DTL

Tara Duggan

Sunday, April 12, 2009


If you're not sure whether you can afford organic produce these days, a new
guide to pesticides may be a helpful guidepost. The Environmental Working
Group's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides is a wallet size checklist of "the
Dirty Dozen" - 12 vegetables and fruits that carry the most pesticide
residues after normal cleaning and peeling and the "Clean 15," or fruits
and vegetables that were shown to have the lowest chemical levels.

Both lists are based on data from almost 87,000 tests conducted by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.

The idea is that if you have to make choices when buying organic, focus on
the Dirty Dozen, which include a lot of fruits with thin, edible skins,
such as strawberries, cherries, nectarines, apples, imported grapes and
pears. Carrots, celery and lettuce are also on the no-no list.

To download the guide or get more details, visit
www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php.
http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php

FoodNews: Shopper's Guide to Pesticides
http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist-print.html
The Full List: 47 Fruits & Veggies
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: We ranked a total of 47 different fruits and vegetables but grapes
are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.












  • [Livingontheland] A shopper's guide to pesticides, Tradingpost, 04/12/2009

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