Priorities when choosing which organic foods to buy

Financial constraints and availability issues mean that sometimes it is impossible to purchase only organic food produce. For this reason it is useful to have an idea which foods are the most pesticide-contaminated in order to be able to prioritise your organic food buying.

The American organisation the Environmental Working Group has produced a list of the top 12 most contaminated vegetables and fruit, as shown below. There is no such equivalent list in the UK at present.

The Dirty Dozen – only buy organic if possible

• Apples
• Peppers
• Celery
• Cherries
• Grapes
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes
• Raspberries
• Spinach
• Strawberries

All vegetables and fruit should be washed thoroughly before eating. If you are using non-organic vegetables or fruit add a tablespoon of cider vinegar to the washing water and let them soak for 15 minutes before rinsing. The acid in the water helps to remove the chemical residues which are often alkaline.

Animal products

Pesticides and other chemical residues found on and within foods are often fat-soluble and therefore may accumulate in fatty foods such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. These foods are also sometimes produced with the aid of hormones and drugs such as antibiotics. For these reasons non-organic animal products should be avoided if possible, this is particularly important in the cases of chicken and farmed salmon. 

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