Apples Top EWG List of Most Contaminated Produce

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has issued its 2013 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which “ranks pesticide contamination on 48 popular fruits and vegetables, based on an analysis of more than 28,000 samples tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] and federal [Food and Drug Administration].”

This year’s “Clean Fifteen™” list—fruits and vegetables with the least pesticide load—includes corn, onions, pineapples, avocados, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, papayas, mangoes, asparagus, eggplant, kiwi, grapefruit, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. Topping the “Dirty Dozen™” list of the “most pesticide-contaminated produce” are apples, followed by strawberries, grapes and celery.

According to EWG, this is the second year in a row that the group “has expanded the Dirty Dozen™ with a Plus category to highlight two crops— domestically-grown summer squash and leafy greens, specifically kale and collards.” Evidently, these crops “did not meet traditional Dirty Dozen™ criteria but were commonly contaminated with pesticides exceptionally toxic to the nervous system.” See Environmental Working Group News Release, April, 22, 2013.