Friday, February 18, 2011

Is some conventional produce safe?

Ask Ida


I saw your list of the Dirty Dozen fruits and vegetables. Is there any conventional produce that doesn't have pesticide residue in it, or should I just cut out produce from my diet and eat wild meats and tree bark?

Signed,

Bugged

Dear Bugged,

There are studies that show that even newborn babies in remote Africa are born with measurable pesticide levels in their bodies, so the possibility of getting a totally pesticide-free food product is pretty slim.

However, the Environmental Working Group reports that you can lower your pesticide intake by as much as 80 percent simply by choosing from the list of the Clean15 conventionally grown items and buying organic whenever you purchase produce from the Dirty Dozen lists (last week's article). Both the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15 list changes over time as agribusiness practices change. (The lists I've printed were compiled in 2010.) Washing and peeling your produce will reduce the pesticide level of your produce (but may reduce the nutritional value as well). Unfortunately, it will not affect its current listing, since the tests were done on foods prepared as they are typically eaten.

The Clean 15 items that are lowest in pesticides are: asparagus, avocados, cabbage, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, honeydew melon, kiwi, mangoes, onions, pineapple, sweet potatoes, sweet corn and sweet peas. Sweet.

Keep it Green,

Ida

—Elizabeth Jeffrey




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