Pesticides in Produce

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Pesticides in Produce: 2024’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ and ‘Clean Fifteen’ Fruits and Vegetables Revealed in New Report

Kale, collard, and mustard greens had the highest number of pesticides, with 103 individual chemicals.

Three-quarters of non-organic foods sampled by U.S. agencies had “potentially harmful pesticides,” according to an environmental group that identified 12 fruits and veggies with high pesticide contamination as well as 15 with the least.

On March 20, the Washington-based Environmental Working Group (EWG) released its “2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce” report detailing fruits and vegetables with the highest and the lowest amount of pesticide residue. The list was generated from tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 47,510 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables.

“EWG determined that 75 percent of all conventional (non-organic) fresh produce sampled had residues of potentially harmful pesticides.”

While the USDA peels/scrubs and washes the samples prior to testing, the FDA only removes the dirt. “Even after these steps, the agencies’ tests still found traces of 254 pesticides in all fruits and vegetables tested.” Among the 46 items sampled in the analysis, 12 were classified as the “Dirty Dozen” and 15 as “Clean Fifteen.”

In the Dirty Dozen list, 95 percent of samples contained pesticides. The items on the list are strawberries, spinach, kale, collard, mustard greens, grapes, peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, bell and hot peppers, cherries, blueberries, and green beans.

Among the Dirty Dozen, 209 pesticides were found. “More than 50 pesticides were detected on samples from each item on the Dirty Dozen, except cherries … All of the produce on the Dirty Dozen had at least one sample with at least 13 pesticides—and some had as many as 23,” EWG said.

“The most pesticides were found on kale, collard, and mustard greens, with 103 individual chemicals found across the items in the category. Hot peppers and bell peppers were next, with 101.”

Out of the five most frequently found pesticides in the Dirty Dozen, four were fungicides—pesticides that control or kill the fungus causing diseases like powdery mildew. Fungicides are often applied after harvest to keep the fruit and vegetables mold-free as they make their way into the market.

“That’s likely why fungicide concentrations can be so high on some samples—higher than other pesticides applied earlier in the growing season,” EWG noted. Fungicides have been linked to health complications like boosting the proliferation of breast cancer cells, harming the male reproductive system, metabolic disorders, and liver toxicity.

The Clean Fifteen produce are avocados, sweet corn, pineapple, onions, papaya, sweet peas (frozen), asparagus, honeydew melon, kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, mushrooms, mangoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots.

Almost 65 percent of fruit and vegetable samples in this list had no detectable pesticide residue, and just over 10 percent of samples had residues of two or more pesticides.

In 2022, USDA tested baby foods for pesticides, and the results showed that non-organic baby foods were “considerably less contaminated by pesticides than their whole fruit and vegetable counterparts,” EWG stated.

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