Strawberries, spinach and kale – usually considered among the healthiest foods you can eat – have been named among the produce with the most pesticides.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), based in Washington, D.C., this week named its foods “dirty dozen” — meaning they are considered the fruits and vegetables in America laced with the most chemicals.
Grapes, peaches, pears and nectarines were also on the list.
Peppers and green beans – which are often found in health-conscious recipes – were also named on the shameful list.
Human ingestion of pesticides can and does damage the nervous system or even cause cancer has been linked to premature birth, birth defects and spontaneous abortions in previous research.
More than 95 percent of samples of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes contained at least two pesticides, the EWG found
It’s recommended to clean fruits and vegetables before eating them to reduce pesticide levels, but once added, “no washing method is 100 percent effective at removing all pesticide residues,” according to the National Pesticide Information Center.
For 2024, the EWG studied 47,510 samples of 46 non-organic produce in the aisles and found that 75 percent of freshly grown produce in America contained residues of harmful pesticides.
For items on the Dirty Dozen list, 95 percent of samples contained pesticides.
“We’re finding that what ends up on one list instead of another reflects how those fruits and vegetables are grown,” said Alexis Temkin, EWG senior toxicologist. “For example, avocados are not pesticide-intensive, while strawberries grow very close to the ground and have many pests.”
More than 250 different pesticides have been discovered on fruits and vegetables, some of which have been banned in the US and Europe due to the effect they have on human health.
For the first time, the researchers looked at reported levels of fungicides, a type of pesticide used to kill fungal diseases such as powdery mildew.
Four of the five most commonly found chemicals on the Dirty Dozen are fungicides: fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil.
Two of these, fludioxonil and pyrimethanil, had the highest concentration on the Dirty Dozen list of all other pesticides, according to the report.
Fludioxonil was found on 90 percent of the peaches tested and pyrimethanil was found on 65 percent of the pears, 30 percent of the apples, 27 percent of the grapes, 26 percent of the strawberries and 24 percent of the nectarine samples.
Both fungicides can be endocrine disruptors that can harm the male reproductive system.
Fungicides are added to fruits and vegetables to prevent or kill fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, or to keep the produce mold-free on its way to the supermarkets.
Pyraclostrobin, which has been linked to liver toxicity and metabolic disorders, was also found on 10 percent or more of every item on the Dirty Dozen list, and on about half of the strawberry and cherry samples.
EWG has also created a “Clean 15” list: products with the least amount of pesticides found on them.
According to the report, nearly 65 percent of the products on that list contained no detectable pesticide residues.
Critics of the report fear it will deter people from eating fruit and vegetables.
Neil Nagata, whose family has grown organic and conventional strawberries in Oceanside, California, for decades, told CNN: “Every time the report comes out or there’s fear about imported strawberries, we see our sales drop.
‘It is not that we are doing anything wrong or wrong, we are actually producing very healthy and safe food. In fact, we actually live in the strawberry field and my dad is 100 and my mom is 97, and they still eat strawberries.”
The EWG emphasized that people should continue to eat fruits and vegetables, even if they are not organic.
Mr Temkin said: ‘Everyone – adults and children – should eat more fruit and vegetables, whether they are organic or not. A product-rich diet provides many health benefits.’
