When to Buy Organic
Buying “organic” definitely comes with a heftier pricetag, so it’s a good idea to know when it pays to make that choice. Generally speaking, if you are eating the skin or leaves of a fruit or vegetable, it’s usually better to buy organic, says Richard Wiles, Executive Director of the Environmental Working Group in Washington, a nonprofit research group that works in food safety.
“When you buy organic, you’ll know you’re reducing your potential exposure to synthetic pesticides. For some produce, we have found that even with washing, it’s difficult to remove traces of pesticides. Nonorganic strawberries, for example, can be washed 10 or 11 times and still show traces of synthetic pesticides,” Wiles says.
To help us figure out which fruits and vegetables are best bought organic, the Environmental Working Group put together a list of 43 produce items and ranked them according to pesticide loads, using information gleaned from the USDA and FDA.
“With this list, we wanted to encourage everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables and to help guide consumers to choices that are least contaminated,” said Wiles.
You can see the complete list at http://www.ewg.org/. In the meantime, the list of fruits and vegetables that have the most residual pesticides are listed below.
Peaches
Apples
Sweet peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Pears
Imported grapes
Spinach
Lettuce
Potatoes
