Pesticides in Produce
March 11, 2009
I’m not a big fan of chemicals, in anything, but especially in food my family eats. In my effort to choose healthier products for my family, I found that produce can contain a lot of chemicals, in the form of pesticides.
Oftentimes, food that is free of chemicals is organic and therefore, tends to be more expensive than their non organic counterparts. Instead of denouncing all organic foods, choose organic produce wisely. Consider the following list of produce, ordered by pesticide content, put together by the Environmental Working Group ( EWG ). I’ve included the top 15 here and you can find the entire list at the EWG site. In our household, we have chosen to purchase organic for the top 10 fruits and veggies on the list and non-organic for the others. This keeps our grocery budget in check.
Another option to save money would be to serve only your children organic produce. As the EWG says, “small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects.”
Keep in mind the ratings do consider how people wash and prepare produce such as rinsing apples or peeling oranges so while washing produce may reduce pesticides, it does not eliminate them.
| RANK | FRUIT OR VEGGIE | SCORE |
| 1 (worst) | Peaches | 100 (highest pesticide load) |
| 2 | Apples | 96 |
| 3 | Sweet Bell Peppers | 86 |
| 4 | Celery | 85 |
| 5 | Nectarines | 84 |
| 6 | Strawberries | 83 |
| 7 | Cherries | 75 |
| 8 | Lettuce | 69 |
| 9 | Grapes – Imported | 68 |
| 10 | Pears | 65 |
| 11 | Spinach | 60 |
| 12 | Potatoes | 58 |
| 13 | Carrots | 57 |
| 14 | Green Beans | 55 |
| 15 | Hot Peppers | 53 |
If you’d like a handy wallet guide to tote the grocery store with you, download it from the EWG site.
Other options for organic produce:
1. Farmer’s markets
2. CSAs ( community supported agriculture )
3. Farms – pick your own!
4. Start a garden in your backyard.
Log in to the forums today and tell moms how you choose to find and use organic produce!
