Know Your Food: Get the 2012 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce

“The explosive growth in market share for organic produce in recent years testifies to a simple fact that pesticide companies and the farmers who use their products just can’t seem to grasp: people don’t like to eat food contaminated by pesticides.” – EWG president Ken Cook

We sure as heck don’t like it at our house, and we choose organically grown fruits and vegetables (and grow our own) to feed our family.

If you don’t always buy organic fruits and veggies, but you still want to keep your family as safe as possible from exposure to harmful pesticide residues, then you’ll want to go and download the EWG 2012 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce to help you shop:

“The Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce will help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. You can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce.”

The guide is available as a free PDF download, and includes both the ‘Dirty Dozen’ (should always choose organic), and the ‘Clean Fifteen’ (the lowest in pesticide residues), and it fits right into your wallet or purse for easy reference.

In a nutshell, the following 12 produce items ranked the highest in pesticide residue, and should either be purchased as organically grown, or avoided altogether if there is no option:

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Sweet bell peppers
4. Peaches
5. Strawberries
6. Nectarines – imported
7. Grapes
8. Spinach
9. Lettuce
10. Cucumbers
11. Blueberries – domestic
12. Potatoes

In addition, this year there are two more items which may contain pesticide residues of special concern, green beans and kale/leafy greens.

Get the guide today, so you can make the wisest choices possible when it’s time to feed the family!