The 12 Most Contaminated Fruits and Greens

Vegatables and fruits are the MVPs of your weight loss program due to their nutritional vitamins, minerals, and health-boosting vitamins. Nonetheless, regardless of their spectacular dietary profiles, some produce carry excessive concentrations of pesticide residue that may negate these advantages. Fortuitously, the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) 2025 Shopper’s Information to Pesticides in Produce ranks fruit and veggies based on their pesticide residue ranges, serving to you make knowledgeable selections about what to purchase and eat.

Fast primer: Pesticides are substances (or mixtures of drugs) used to kill or management pests, together with bugs, weeds, fungi, and rodents. They’re generally used to guard the agriculture of fruit and veggies and to repel undesirable organisms which will carry illness. The chemical compounds are utilized when rising produce or after it’s harvested, although many pesticides stay on objects after they attain your kitchen.

Pesticides are used to guard crops, however they are often notably dangerous to human well being. Analysis suggests that insecticides could disrupt hormones, have an effect on fertility, scale back ovarian perform, and diminish sperm high quality. They might additionally enhance the danger of breast most cancers, sort 2 diabetes, and heart problems.

Given the info, it’s essential to cut back your publicity to pesticides, says EWG Vice President for Science Alexis Temkin, PhD. “The EWG’s Shopper’s Information is a software to tell shoppers and assist them with their produce buying selections, with the purpose of a weight loss program wealthy in additional fruit and veggies however low in pesticide residue,” she says.

To simplify grocery buying, the EWG created the Clear Fifteen, representing objects with the least pesticide residue, and the Soiled Dozen, which represents produce with the very best residue. The information has been printed since 2004, however this 12 months’s version not solely examines the quantity, presence, and quantity of pesticides on produce, but additionally evaluates their toxicity to people, Temkin says.

Right here’s a better have a look at the EWG’s Shopper’s Information outcomes, together with tips about successfully scale back your threat of pesticide publicity.

Understanding the EWG’s Shopper’s Information to Pesticides in Produce

The EWG Shopper’s Information evaluated information from pesticide residue exams carried out by the USA Division of Agriculture (USDA) on greater than 53,000 samples of 47 fruit and veggies, Temkin says. Previous to testing, all produce samples had been washed for 15 to twenty seconds underneath working water, and inedible peels — corresponding to these on citrus and bananas — had been eliminated, she explains.

Even after this preparation, traces of 256 pesticides had been nonetheless discovered on all of the examined fruit and veggies. Consequently, the EWG categorizes fruit and veggies into two teams — Clear Fifteen and Soiled Dozen — primarily based on pesticide toxicity, in addition to their detected frequency and concentrations.

Which pesticides had been discovered on the produce?

In keeping with the EWG’s evaluation of the USDA information, the next pesticides had been discovered on the 47 fruit and veggies examined.

Fungicides: Fungicides corresponding to pyrimethanil and fludioxonil are particularly designed to regulate or get rid of fungal ailments.

Pyrethroids: Pyrethroids, corresponding to permethrin and cypermethrin, are artificial pesticides developed to repel pests, together with mosquitoes, flies, gnats, spiders, and ants.

Neonicotinoids: Neonicotinoids, corresponding to acetamiprid and imidacloprid, are much like nicotine (a naturally occurring insecticide) and are designed to handle pests and bugs, together with aphids, whiteflies, and mealybugs.

EWG’s 2025 Clear Fifteen

Practically 60% of Clear Fifteen fruit and veggies confirmed no detectable pesticide residue, and solely 16% of samples contained residues of two or extra pesticides. No pattern from the highest six Clear Fifteen objects (pineapple, candy corn, avocado, papaya, onion, and candy peas) had residues of greater than three pesticides. Bananas, a brand new member of the Clear Fifteen listing, additionally had one of many lowest total pesticide toxicity ranges among the many examined fruit and veggies.

The next 15 forms of produce had the bottom pesticide residue ranges of all 47 varieties sampled, based on the EWG’s evaluation of the latest USDA information.

1. Pineapple
2. Candy corn (recent and frozen)
3. Avocados
4. Papaya
5. Onions
6. Candy peas (frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Cabbage
9. Watermelon
10. Cauliflower
11. Bananas
12. Mangoes
13. Carrots
14. Mushrooms
15. Kiwi

EWG’s 2025 Soiled Dozen

Pesticides had been discovered on 96% of samples from all 12 forms of produce. A complete of 203 pesticides had been detected on the Soiled Dozen, with samples of each sort of produce (besides cherries) exhibiting greater than 50 pesticides. Each merchandise, aside from potatoes, had a median of 4 or extra pesticides detected in particular person samples, whereas potatoes averaged two.

Of the 47 objects examined, the next 12 fruit and veggies had been discovered to be essentially the most contaminated with pesticides, based on the EWG’s evaluation of the most recent USDA information.

1. Spinach
2. Strawberries
3. Kale, collard, and mustard greens
4. Grapes
5. Peaches
6. Cherries
7. Nectarines
8. Pears
9. Apples
10. Blackberries
11. Blueberries
12. Potatoes

***Bell peppers, scorching peppers, and inexperienced beans had been additionally included on the Soiled Dozen listing as a result of their total pesticide toxicity.

How you can mitigate pesticide threat

“Firstly, we wish to make certain consumers are getting plenty of fruit and veggies into their weight loss program, whether or not that’s conventionally or organically grown,” Temkin says.

To scale back pesticide publicity, Temkin recommends shopping for both natural or typical variations of produce (recent or frozen) from the Clear Fifteen listing, in addition to natural variations of things on the Soiled Dozen every time doable.

You don’t have to keep away from consuming meals listed within the Soiled Dozen, natural choices simply have decrease pesticide residue, Temkin says. It’s because analysis discovered natural produce has decrease publicity to artificial pesticides.

Moreover, all produce needs to be completely washed for at the very least 15 seconds underneath working water earlier than consuming. Though water doesn’t get rid of all pesticide residue, Temkin says it considerably decreases the quantity of pesticides whereas additionally eradicating filth, particles, and probably dangerous micro organism.