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Of the 46 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides: Strawberries The average American eats about eight pounds of fresh strawberries a year – and with them, dozens of pesticides, including chemicals that have been linked to cancer and reproductive damage, or that are banned in Europe.
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Dirty Dozen™. Of the 46 items included in our analysis,...
- Clean Fifteen
Check out EWG's Clean Fifteen list to help decide when you...
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EWG’S 2024 DIRTY DOZEN. Of the 46 items included in our...
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It includes two well-known lists: the Dirty Dozen™, the 12...
- Press Release
Across fruits and vegetables from EWG’s Dirty Dozen™ – the...
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Mar 21, 2024 · March 21, 2024. Every year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) analyzes the most recent USDA data to compile its infamous Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen lists. These list the types of fruits and vegetables that tend to be grown with the most and least pesticides, based on the latest available numbers.
Dirty Dozen™. Of the 46 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides. 1. Strawberries. 2. Spinach. 3. Kale, collard & mustard greens. 4. Grapes. 5. Peaches. 6. Pears. 7. Nectarines. 8. Apples. 9. Bell & hot Peppers. 10. Cherries. 11. Blueberries. 12. Green Beans.
Mar 25, 2024 · The Environmental Working Group ranks nonorganic produce for pesticide content, and finds that 95% of samples of strawberries, spinach, and kale contain pesticides. See the full list of the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen, and learn how to wash your produce well.
- Karla Alindahao
Apr 7, 2022 · Strawberries and spinach continue to top the annual list of the “Dirty Dozen” fruits and veggies that contain the highest levels of pesticides, followed by three greens – kale, collard...
- Pesticides – Known to Cause Health Problems
- What’s New in The 2023 Shopper’s Guide
- The 2023 Dirty Dozen
- The 2023 Clean Fifteen
- Where Does Shopper’s Guide Pesticide Data Come from?
- Why Does EWG Recommend Reducing Exposure to Pesticides in Your Diet?
- Are Genetically Modified Crops Affected by Pesticides?
- U.S. Pesticide Regulations Are Inadequate
- Methodology
- References
For this year’s guide, the overall picture remains problematic: Too many pesticides are still found in too high quantities on too much of the produce millions of Americans eat every day. Many peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown disturbing links between pesticides and human health issues. These findings raise important questions about the sa...
Blueberries and green beans are on the Dirty Dozen this year. Both crops still have troubling concentrations of pesticides that can harm the human nervous system, called organophosphate insecticides, though the levels have decreased over the past decade. Several green bean samples had residues of acephate, a toxic pesticide, which the EPA banned mo...
Of the 46 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides: 1. Strawberries 2. Spinach 3. Kale, collard and mustard greens 4. Peaches 5. Pears 6. Nectarines 7. Apples 8. Grapes 9. Bell and hot peppers 10. Cherries 11. Blueberries 12. Green beans Some highlights from the Dirty Dozen testing: 1. Mo...
These 15 items had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues, according to EWG’s analysis of the most recent USDA data.1 1. Avocados 2. Sweet corn 3. Pineapple 4. Onions 5. Papaya 6. Sweet peas (frozen) 7. Asparagus 8. Honeydew melon 9. Kiwi 10. Cabbage 11. Mushrooms 12. Mangoes 13. Sweet Potatoes 14. Watermelon 15. Carrots Top takeaways for consume...
The Shopper’s Guide combines data from USDA and FDA tests from 2021 and up to 10 years earlier, with the exception of pineapple data, which is from 2002. The newest data released by the agencies included results of tests of more than 46,000 samples of produce, since it’s impossible to test every single piece of fruit and vegetable sold in the U.S. ...
With the knowledge that pesticides are known to cause potential health problems, people can use the Shopper’s Guide to reduce their exposure to these chemicals when buying fruit and vegetables. One way to do this is by choosing organic produce. Standards for growing organic produce ban the use of synthetic pesticides, which is a simple way to ident...
Genetically engineered crops, also known as genetically modified organisms or GMOs, are most commonly found in processed foods rather than in fresh produce. Corn syrup and corn oil, produced from predominantly GMO starchy field corn, are commonly found in processed foods. But you may find genetically modified zucchini, yellow squash, sweet corn, pa...
EWG is concerned about pesticides on produce because they are toxic by design, created expressly to kill living organisms – insects, plants and fungi considered “pests.” But many pesticides pose health dangers to people, too, including cancer, hormone disruption, and brain and nervous system toxicity. These hazards have been confirmed by independen...
EWG’s Shopper’s Guide ranks pesticide contamination on 46 popular fruits and vegetables by analyzing 46,569 samples taken by the USDA and the FDA. Each year the USDA selects a subset of these fruits and vegetables to test, rather than testing all crops every year. To create this guide, EWG uses data from the most recent one-to-two-year sampling per...
USDA, Pesticide Data Program. Agricultural Marketing Service. Available at: www.ams.usda.gov/datasets/pdp.Vigar, V., et al., A Systematic Review of Organic Versus Conventional Food Consumption: Is There a Measurable Benefit on Human Health? Nutrients, 2020; 12(1), 7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu1201...Kesse-Guyot et al. Key Findings of the French BioNutriNet Project on Organic Food-Based Diets: Description, Determinants, and Relationships to Health and the Environment. Adv Nutr. 2022 Feb 1;13(1)...Rempelos et al. Diet and food type affect urinary pesticide residue excretion profiles in healthy individuals: results of a randomized controlled dietary intervention trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 Fe...Mar 17, 2021 · Strawberries topped the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list in 2021 for the sixth year in a row. The most recent report states they are the fresh produce most likely to remain...
