Be a Smarter Produce Picker

Be a Smarter Produce Picker Sierra Club / San Gorgonio – JAN/FEB 2007 Newsletter The Environmental Working Group (EWG) always recommends buying organic, but they know you can’t always find it. Their new guide can help you minimize your chemical exposure in the produce isle. The list below was developed by analyst at EWG based on the results of 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood. Nearly all the data used to create the list below already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce. For example, apples are washed before testing and bananas are peeled. Look for food produced in your region. Food travels an average of 1,500 miles from the farm to the supermarket, consuming fossil fuels and emitting air pollutants and heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Choose organic. Organic standards prohibit the use of synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides, and antibiotics. Over 70% of antibiotics in this country (which translates to about 25 million pounds) are used each year on animals to accelerate growth or to compensate for overcrowding and unsanitary conditions on large-scale confinement facilities known as “factory farms”. Pesticides on fruits & vegetables WORST ↑ Peaches Apples Bell Peppers Celery Nectarines Strawberries Cherries Pears Grapes (Imported) Spinach Lettuce Potatoes Carrots Green Beans Hot Peppers Cucumbers Raspberries Plums Grapes (Domestic) Oranges Grapefruit Tangerine Mushrooms Cantaloupe Honeydew Melon Tomatoes Watermelon Winter Squash Cauliflower Broccoli Cabbage Bananas Sweet peas—frozen Asparagus Pineapples Sweet Corn—frozen Avocados Onions ↓ BEST Source: http://sangorgonio.sierraclub.org/newsletter/pdfs/Palm___Pine_Jan_Feb_2007.pdf