Pesticides in Produce

Traditional and conventional U.S. crops are typically laden with a toxic soup of chemicals that consumers ingest when purchasing fruits and vegetables. By comparison, here's the list from 2013 so you can see that apples dropped from #1 to #4.

Environmental Working Group (ewg.org)
2018 List of Produce with Pesticides

1. Strawberries 33% of sampled conventional strawberries contained 10 or more pesticide residues; 1 sample contained 22 pesticide residues

2. Spinach 97% contained pesticide residues with relatively high concentrations of permethrin, a neurotoxic insecticide

3. Nectarines 94% contained 2 or more pesticide residues; 1 sample contained 15 pesticide residues

4. Apples 90% had detectable residues; 80% contained diphenylamine pesticide banned in Europe

5. Grapes more than 96% contained average 5 pesticide residues

6. Peaches more than 99% contained pesticide residues

7. Cherries 100% contained average of 5 pesticide residues; 30% contained iprodione banned in Europe

8. Pears 100% contained pesticide residues; more than 50% contained 5 or more pesticides

9. Tomatoes 100% contained 4 pesticide residues; 1 sample contained 15 pesticides

10. Celery more than 95% contained pesticide residue; 13 pesticides were detected at maximum

11. Potatoes 100% contained pesticide residue; chlorpropham is primary residue and potatoes had more pesticide residues by weight than any other crop

12. Sweet Bell Peppers 90% contained pesticide residues; pesticide used is more toxic than majority used on vegetables & fruits

Least Amount of Pesticides in Testing 2018

1. Avocados fewer than 1% tested positive for pesticides. Only 1 pesticide was found on any of 360 samples.

2. Sweet Corn* less than 2% contained pesticides; however, a small amount was grown from Roundup Ready genetically engineered (GE) seeds. Avoid GE crops buy purchasing organic corn.

3. Pineapples 10% contained 5 different types of pesticides

4. Cabbages 14% contained more than 1 pesticide residue

5. Onions 10% contained 3 or less pesticide residues

6. Sweet Peas Frozen 20% contained 2 or less pesticide residues

7. Papayas 20% contain more than 3 pesticides

8. Asparagus 10% had 3 or less pesticide residues

9. Mangoes 22% had 2 or less pesticide residues

10. Eggplants 25% had 3 or less pesticide residues

11. Honeydew Melons 50% had 4 or less pesticide residues

12. Kiwis 35% had 6 pesticide residues

13. Cantaloupes 40% contained some sort of pesticide residue but 10% had at least one detectable residue

14. Cauliflower 50% contained 3 or less pesticide residues

15. Broccoli 30% contained pesticide residues while 10% contained more than 1 residue

* A small amount of sweet corn, papaya and summer squash sold in the United States is produced from genetically modified seeds. Buy organic varieties of these crops if you want to avoid genetically modified produce.