The Dirty Dozen (SBCB)

Can't afford to buy everything organic? Consider buying these 12 foods organic whenever you can.  This list might shock you, so be prepared.


Peaches: this fruit is sprayed on a weekly basis, from March until harvest, with an assortment of pesticides and fungicides. It is considered the worst of the dirty dozen list, according to the EWG. Pesticide Rating: 100

Apples: Around forty pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are approved for use on apples.
Pesticide Rating: 93

Bell Peppers: Growers add their own concoction of toxic spices from among fifty approved chemicals and insecticides, typically sprayed two to six times on the pepper crops during their growth cycle.
Pesticide Rating: 83

Celery: The FDA suspects that celery is the most likely candidate for pesticide residue, due to its ability to absorb a number of toxins through the soil and groundwater. And if the FDA suspects it, then you know it's dirty.
Pesticide Rating: 82

Nectarines: Nectarines trees take a beating for several months with various pesticides, fungicides, and petroleum-based horticulture oils.
Pesticide Rating: 81

Strawberries: More than sixty-five different pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides are registered for use on these babies.
Pesticide Rating: 80

Cherries: Cherries are naturally attractive to insects and pest, and susceptible to viruses and fungal diseases.
Pesticide Rating: 73

Kale: Found to have ten types of pesticide residue, post-rinse.
Pesticide Score: 69

Lettuce: Considered to be contaminated with the most potent pesticides used on food - fifty of them to be exact.
Pesticide Score: 67

Grapes (imported): The USDA mandates that all grapes imported from Chile be fumigated with methylbromide when they arrive in the U.S ports. *don't think Canada is any less strict
Pesticide Score: 66


Pears: Pear crops bear more than fifty nasty chemicals.
Pesticide Score: 63

Carrots: More than forty different pesticides have been detected on carrots.
Pesticide Score: 63