AN APPLE A DAY is a good habit, but that habit may contain some unwanted residue in your consumption. Conventionally grown produce is sprayed with pesticides, fungicides and herbicides to increase yield and increase visual appeal on supermarket shelves.

Apples: 42 Pesticide Residues Found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program.3

CELERY is a great snack, on its own or with peanut butter or cream cheese. It is also a common ingredient for soups, stews, potato salads, and many other recipes.

Celery: 64 Pesticide Residues Found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program.3

SWEET PEPPERS are one of my personal favorites and sometimes the fresh, raw fruit doesn’t last through snack time to add to a recipe!

Sweet peppers: 49 pesticide residues found by the USDA pesticide data program.3

Reduce the amount of toxic waste in your daily consumption by buying organic produce, grown without toxic sprays or soil additives. You can substantially reduce your pesticide intake by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables (conventionally grown) and eating toxin-free produce by buying organic instead. You’ll realize the value of eating organic produce that doesn’t contain toxic residues by learning what dangerous pesticide residues are and how they affect you, the environment, and our agricultural system, including bees, nature’s pollinator. Take a few minutes to visit the websites in the resource box below to see what toxins the fruits and vegetables you’re serving today may contain.

Here’s a scary fact: GRAPES imported from Chile are fumigated with methyl bromide upon arrival at US ports. Methyl bromide is classified as a Category One compound by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). This classification contains the deadliest substances in regulation, and is a toxic, poisonous, and ozone-depleting chemical known to cause neurological damage and reproductive harm.2 Sound like something you’d like to ingest?

Pesticides are on our food, even after washing it; pesticides stay in our body for years; pesticides remain in our environment, traveling many miles in the wind, water, and dust. 3

Pesticides are a public health problem that affects our food, our health, and other agricultural concerns such as toxic damage to bees and bee colonies. Pesticide residues result in toxicity in various forms: carcinogens, hormone disruptors, neurotoxins, reproductive or developmental toxins, and bee toxins. 3

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) states: “This year we expanded the Dirty Dozen™ with a Plus category to highlight two crops: green beans and leafy greens, namely kale and collard greens, that did not meet the Dirty Dozen ™, but they were commonly contaminated with highly toxic organophosphate insecticides. These insecticides are toxic to the nervous system and have been largely eliminated from agriculture over the past decade. But they are not banned and still appear on some food crops.” 1

Here is the complete list of Dirty Dozen Plus TM 1:

1. apples
2. Celery
3. sweet peppers
4. peaches
5. strawberries
6. Nectarines – imported
7. grapes
8. Spinach
9. Lettuce
10. cucumbers
11. Blueberries – domestic
12. potatoes

MORE green beans

MORE Kale/Vegetables

Shop organic or grow your own! Try growing some easy-to-grow vegetables and herbs. Start with a one-square-foot container garden if you don’t have the space for an outdoor garden. Carrots are easy to grow. The lettuce, cucumbers and herbs are a wonderful crop of home grown organic produce and most importantly pesticide free. Locate certified organic growers, farmers markets, and local farms to buy organic fruits and vegetables in your area, easily found online. For a list of resources, please contact the author through her worm feed site, listed in the Resources box.