Do you like apples? You won’t after reading this

Health News

Almost 100% of apples have at least one type of pesticide residue. Oh, and I got her number. How do you like them apples? The Environmental Working Group’s 2105 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce is out now and the results are in, and if you don’t want a mouthful of pesticide then you should avoid apples like you’re Snow White. Unless they are organic, if you can afford them, that is. Or you can switch to the products found to have little to no pesticides at all, the ‘Clean Fifteen,’ as EWG calls them.

Leafy greens like kale and collard greens, and hot peppers fell short of making the dirty dozen list, but that doesn’t mean they got off scot-free. On the contrary, they were often found to contain insecticides that are toxic to the human nervous system, such as organophosphate and carbamate. Other offenders: in addition to 99% of apple samples, 98% of peaches and 97% of nectarines tested positive for at least one pesticide; the average potato had a higher number of pesticides by weight than any other produce; a single grape sample and a sweet bell pepper sample had 15 pesticides; and single samples of cherry tomatoes, nectarines, peaches, imported snap peas, and strawberries contained each 13 different pesticides.

On the bright side, only 1% of avocado samples had any traceable pesticides; about 89% of pineapples, 82% of kiwi, 80% of papayas, 88% of mangos, and 61% of cantaloupe showed no residues; not a single fruit sample on the clean fifteen list tested positive for more than four types of pesticides; and only 5.5% of vegetable samples on the clean fifteen list had two or more pesticides. It is worth noting that EWG does not actually recommend abstaining from produce included in the dirty dozen list, pointing out that the benefits of fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticides. What they do recommend is to reduce exposure to said pesticides as much as it is possible, especially by choosing organic produce whenever possible. “We know that organics are not accessible or affordable for everyone,” the group’s website says. “So we created the Shopper’s Guide™ to help consumers make the healthiest choices given their circumstances.”

EWG analyzed more than 34,000 samples taken by the United States Department of Agriculture and the FDA in order to compile the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Six measures of pesticide contamination are taken into account:

1. Percentage of samples tested with detectable pesticides.
2. Percentage of samples with 2 or more detectable pesticides.
3. Average number of pesticides found on a single sample.
4. Average amount of pesticides found, measured in parts/million.
5. Maximum number of pesticides found on a single sample.
6. Total number of pesticides found on the commodity.

Related Read:

- Which foods should you buy organic?

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