Each year we reproduce the EWG's Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen™ list of pesticides in produce. While this is a USA list, it's the most definitive we have and should act as a reasonable guide to assist you to make better produce decisions in Australia. Don't get caught up in the different country cropping chemicals etc arguments. Just use this as a guide to what it is safest to buy organic and what doesn't matter so much and save yourself some money. Even if the amount of pesticides or type used in Australia is different, it is unlikely to be significant. (If you disagree or want to alert us or users to a view, fact or piece of evidence, please add in comments.)The EWG Clean Fifteen™ are a list of fruits and vegetables that have few, if any, detected pesticide residues. The significance of this list is that this is the produce that doesn't really need to be purchased organic, if it is pesticides that concern you.
Every year, the EWG analyse pesticide residue testing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration and use it to come up with rankings for fresh produce items. EWG rank 48 different foods from the highest number of pesticides to the lowest.
This list shows produce starting from the LOWEST amount of pesticides.
Avocados and sweet corn* were still the cleanest. Less than 1 percent of samples showed any detectable pesticides. More than 70 percent of Clean Fifteen™ fruit and vegetable samples had no pesticide residues.With the exception of cabbage, all other produce on the Clean Fifteen™ tested positive for less than four pesticides. Multiple pesticide residues are extremely rare on Clean Fifteen vegetables. Only 6 percent of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had two or more pesticides.* 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. Images: Unsplash | Mae Mu / Simply Sated