Updated “Dirty Dozen” List
March 17, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Green Living
If you’re not familiar with the “Dirty Dozen” – it’s a list created by The Environmental Working Group that lets consumers know which fruits and veggies are best and least important to buy organic. The dirty dozen are fruits and veggies that have a larger amount of pesticides in them when grown conventionally.
The group just released their newest version of the list and it’s available for download (handy for shopping trips).
This year the five worst conventional produce buys are…
- Peaches
- Apples
- Bell Peppers
- Celery
- Nectarines
And the five safest conventional produce buys are…
- Onions
- Avocados
- Sweet Corn
- Pineapples
- Mangos
How to use the list to your advantage:
- Only buy produce on the dirty dozen list in organic form. This will protect your family from unnecessary pesticides and chemicals.
- Save money for the organics you do need (i.e. the dirty dozen) by buying items from the “clean” list in conventional form.
- Don’t forget, if an item is on the list, you need to consider all forms of that fruit or veggie. For example, apples top the list of most contaminated. This means you not only need to buy fresh apples in organic form to avoid pesticides but also items like applesauce, apple juice, apple pies, and so fourth.
To see all the best and worst produce buys check out the entire list.
[image via stock.xchng]
We all need to start complaining about the lack of available organic apples in many grocery stores. It’s annoying. I SU this!
Agreed. I only shop at co-op type stores or Fred Meyers because they always have organics BUT the quality seems second rate, as if organics is an afterthought. It’s super annoying.