Pesticides – What Fruits & Vegetables Have The Most Pesticides | Dirty Twelve

Okay, so what’s the scoop?

Is organic all what it’s cracked up to be?  Is it just a marketing gimmick?

I did some homework and came to the realization that for some foods, fruits & veggies, it’s very important to buy organic because it means ‘they’ did not use pesticides on the fruits and vegetables.

Why is it important to avoid as many pesticides as possible?

Pesticides just don’t only cause cancer; pesticides have been known to damage our hormone, nervous and immune systems, and also studies have found that pesticides have a compromise our capability to reproduce. Children are especially susceptible to the harmful effects of pesticides. The National Resources Defense Council, has given number of research studies, that have reported that early exposure to pesticides, have higher instances of birth defects in children, leukemia and brain cancer. A recent study has also linked the pesticides to be causing Parkinson’s.

So, when buying your fruits and vegetables, some are naturally resistant to pesticides and don’t need to be sprayed.  Others may be sprayed, but the part of the produce that we eat is not contaminated.  Then there are the ones that are sprayed and heavily contaminated – these are the fruits and veggies that we either need to avoid or choose to buy organic.

There is a list called the ‘dirty dozen’.  These either need to be organic or not eaten.

12 Most Contaminated

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

The ‘Clean 15’:

• Onions
• Avocado
• Sweet Corn (Frozen)
• Pineapples
• Mango
• Asparagus
• Sweet Peas (Frozen)
• Kiwi Fruit
• Bananas
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Papaya
• Sweet Potatoes
• Egg Plant
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon

It is still a good practice to wash all your fruits and veggies before cooking or eating them.  Washing them will ensure that get any residual contaminates off the outside of the produce.