Buyers Beware: Fruit and Veggie Contamination

Save to notebook Email article Print article More articles

By Rachel Derry
Staff Writer LIFamilies

Americans are trying to get healthy and are turning to fruits and vegetable to help do so. In the process they may be putting themselves, and their families, in greater risk. This year's results of the most contaminated fruits and vegetables are out, and you may be surprised by the outcome.

An apple a day was always supposed to keep the doctor away, but instead it may be the cause of future visits. Apples have moved up three spaces this year to become the number one most contaminated fruit/vegetable, trumping celery.

Governmental research is done every year on 53 different fruits and vegetables. After peeling and washing produce, they test them for pesticides and fungicides. The Environmental Working Group, a public health advocacy group, then takes the findings and publishes a list of the cleanest and the dirtiest.

Simply washing and peeling the fruits and vegetables is not enough to get them clean. Their plants absorb the toxins when the fruit or vegetable is still growing, infecting the produce.

One way to avoid your family ingesting more pesticides is by trying to buy organic options when available. If organic is too expensive, or inaccessible try alternative options; such as replacing apples with pineapples. By choosing your five daily servings of fruits and vegetables from the "clean list," you will avoid pesticide exposure by up to 92%.

Clean List:
1. Onions
2. Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe
10. Kiwis
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Grapefruits
15. Mushrooms

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