Remember when eating fruits and vegetables was actually the healthy thing to do? I'm really starting to miss those days. Because another food safety report is out today to scare you out of shopping, this time from the folks over at the Environmental Working Group.
I keep thinking the move toward organic in the market would have forced regular produce sellers to step up their game. It's the lesson of supply and demand, right? Consumers are demanding organic, so the supply should be adjusted. But the EWG is saying no way: our favorite eats are still loaded down with pesticides. If anything, it looks like things have actually gotten worse -- they had to up their "buy organic" produce list from the Dirty Dozen to the Dirty Dozen Plus. Just check out the highlights on what to avoid:
Green Beans: One of two veggies added to the "Dirty Dozen" list of produce the EWG has always recommended you buy from an organic grower, green beans were found to be "commonly contaminated" with a type of insecticide that's dangerous to the nervous system.
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Kale & Collard Greens: These were also added to the Dirty Dozen list, making it the Dirty Dozen Plus ... for the same reason as green beans.
Apples: Experts have long suggested these should be purchased from organic growers, so you'd think apple growers would be trying to fight off the challenge, right? Wrong. The new report claims 98 percent of conventional apples have detectable levels of pesticides.
Nectarines: There wasn't a single nectarine in the sample pile that didn't have some kind of pesticide residue.
Lettuce: Mmm, want some pesticide with your salad? The report claims there were 78 different pesticides on lettuce samples.
Blueberries: The report shows domestic blueberries were positive for 42 different pesticide residues. Eww!
Grapes: They may be tiny, but grape samples came in with a whopping 64 different kinds of chemicals.
Celery: On a single sample, the EWG says there were 13 different pesticides.
Strawberries: The same thing that happened with a single sample of celery occurred when researchers checked a single strawberry sample: 13 different pesticides.
That's just a smattering of the list -- you can check the EWG for their new "Dirty Dozen Plus" if you want to know what they recommend buying from the organic shelves -- but I have to say the fact that these pesticides continue to show up scares me more than the chemicals themselves! It means that the companies don't really care what we shoppers have to say.
Don't we live in a consumer-driven society? Shouldn't growers be listening to our demands for healthy food?
What do you think of the findings of this report? Will it change the way you shop for fruits and vegetables?
Image via srqpix/Flickr
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Comments 38
@Kimberly, you are absolutely entitled to do whatever you want, but just so you're aware, it's been proved that gress-fed beef and free-range chickens produce much healthier produce with far more nutrients. if you want to do a little experiment at home, but one set of free range (better than cage free) eggs and one set of regular eggs. crack them open and compare the yolks. the free-range ones will be a deep rich golden color, the regular ones a paler weaker yellowy color. the shells of the free range eggs will also be stronger and the regular ones weaker/more likely to crack. hopefully comparing them side by side will show you the difference so you can make a more informed decision. :) (i am not critizing you btw, just trying to share!)
Does not matter if it is organic or conventional...always wash your produce!!!
also...found this little website interesting.....
http://www.safefruitsandveggies.com/calculator/
you would have to eat 314 nectarines for it to even be harmful to your body....
The terrifying toxic list of "Dirty Dozen" has come out every year for years and as you see by the responses the vast majority of Cafemom readers just don't care what they put in their bodies or the bodies of their children. They aren't going to change the way they eat.
http://www.safefruitsandveggies.com/calculator/
washing in water will not help..the best you can do is soak in vinegar and warm water. But if its not organic the pesticides will be inside the fruit as well...It is very hard to buy everything organic..and its not just fruit and veggies, another that tests really high for pesticides is bread. That is one thing I always buy organic or make myself!