The Dirty Dozen: Which organic fruits and vegetables to buy

The Environmental Working Group has published an updated list of fruits and vegetables with the most amount of pesticides in its Food News site. For the full report, check it out. Here are top twelve most toxic fruits and vegetables, in order of highest pesticide load. These are worth buying organic when possible:

1. Peaches (highest concentration of pesticides)
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Pears
9. Grapes - Imported
10. Spinach
11. Lettuce
12. Potatoes

When you can’t always afford to buy organic produce, here are the top twelve that contain the least amount of pesticides. Of course it would be better to buy everything organic, but I know that some markets, like Whole Foods, can be expensive. (That’s why it’s often cheaper to go with a CSA!)

1. Onions (least concentration of pesticides)
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn - frozen
4. Pineapples
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Sweet peas - frozen
8. Kiwi
9. Bananas
10. Cabbage
11. Broccoli
12. Papaya