I know that it’s not quite Sophie’s Choice but if you are like me and struggle making the most basic food & health decisions sometimes, the following information will hopefully help.  The very nice people at www.foodnews.org  provides this great overall list to help you make the tough decision of what to buy organic or not. However,  if you click on the link above, they actually have a handy card (that is easy to download) called the “Dirty Dozen” & “Clean 15”. Keep this with your grocery list to make the best choice when purchasing your potatoes or tomatoes. Speaking of which, did you know that the U.S. Supreme Court settled the tomato fruit/vegetable controversy on May 10, 1893 by declaring a tomato a vegetable… but I find that the debate rages on.

Rank Ordered – highest pesticide load  to smallest…ie worst offenders to least

  1. Peach                                                                                                                                                              
  2. Apple
  3. Sweet Bell Pepper
  4. Celery
  5. Nectarine
  6. Strawberries
  7. Cherries
  8. Kate
  9. Lettuce
  10. Grapes -  Imported
  11. Carrot
  12. Pear
  13. Collard Greens
  14. Spinach
  15. Potato
  16. Green Beans
  17. Summer Squash
  18. Pepper
  19. Cucumber
  20. Raspberries
  21. Grapes – Domestic
  22. Plum
  23. Orange
  24. Cauliflower
  25. Tangerine
  26. Mushrooms
  27. Banana
  28. Winter Squash
  29. Cantaloupe
  30. Cranberries
  31. Honeydew Melon
  32. Grapefruit
  33. Sweet Potato
  34. Tomato
  35. Broccoli
  36. Watermelon
  37. Papaya
  38. Eggplant
  39. Cabbage
  40. Kiwi
  41. Sweet Peas – Frozen
  42. Asparagus
  43. Mango
  44. Pineapple
  45. Sweet Corn – Frozen
  46. Avacado
  47. Onion

* Note: They ranked a total of 47 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because they looked at both domestic and imported samples.