"Eat your fruits and vegetables! The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. Use EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides to reduce your exposures as much as possible, but eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all. The Shopper's Guide to Pesticide in Produce will help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. You can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce."
EWG's 2011 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
Dirty Dozen
Buy these organic
1
Apples
2
Celery
3
Strawberries
4
Peaches
5
Spinach
6
Nectarines
– imported
7
Grapes – imported
8
Sweet bell peppers
9
Potatoes
10
Blueberries
– domestic
11
Lettuce
12
Kale/collard greens
Clean 15
Lowest in Pesticide
1
Onions
2
Sweet Corn
3
Pineapples
4
Avocado
5
Asparagus
6
Sweet peas
7
Mangoes
8
Eggplant
9
Cantaloupe
- domestic
10
Kiwi
11
Cabbage
12
Watermelon
13
Sweet potatoes
14
Grapefruit
15
Mushrooms