One of the rituals of Spring is the annual release of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists. These are lists of the most contaminated and cleanest fruits and vegetables put out by the Environmental Working Group every year. They’re a non-profit organization that tests all sorts of produce for pesticides and chemicals and then compiles the lists of the best and worst. As usual, strawberries are #1 on the dirty list. They’re very heavily sprayed with pesticides, since bugs like them as much as we do. But our bodies don’t like the chemicals, since they tend to be toxic and many cause cancer. The lists are a great guide to know what you really need to eat only if it’s organic, and which are ok to eat if they’re not organic. There are a few surprises on both lists. You can check them out at the links below.
Here are links to the lists:
If you’ve got a few minutes, it’s worth poking around on their website. They’ve got guides to clean skin care products and home cleaning products, and it’s always a good idea to reduce the toxins we’re putting in and on our bodies and in our environment.