Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 List for 2015

The new Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 Lists have been released for 2015. It is such a handy guide to know where to invest the extra bucks into organic produce. I buy a lot of organic but it can often be a lot more expensive then conventional so this list is a a great resource when you are budgeting or just having a hard time finding everything you need on your list in organic.

This is a list of produce items that tend to have the highest levels of pesticide residue (even after being washed and peeled). So if you are interested in organics, these products are the ones that you want to focus on (in order of importance).

Here is the Dirty Dozen- this is where you want to spend the extra money on organic produce whenever possible:

Apples
Celery
Cherry Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Grapes
Nectarines
Peaches
Potatoes
Snap Peas
Spinach
Strawberries
Sweet Bell Peppers

And there is also a Dirty Dozen Plus- these items are not on the Dirty Dozen list but still something to try to find in organic if you can:

Hot Peppers
Kale/Collared Greens

And here is the Clean 15 list for 2015. These are the items with the least amount of pesticide contamination found -so these are not as high of a priority when buying organic.

Asparagus
Avocados
Cabbage
Cantaloupe
Cauliflower
Eggplant
Grapefruit
Kiwi
Mangoes
Onions
Papayas
Pineapples
Sweet Corn
Sweet Peas (frozen)
Sweet Potatoes

You can see more research and data from the Environmental Working Group here.

I was not buying organic cucumbers for the longest time since we usually peel them but lately the cucumbers I have been buying have had a strange taste to them. A metallic flavor and I immediately switched to organic and have had much better tasting produce.

And if you do buy conventional produce, here is a simple DIY produce spray you can make yourself:

Washing the strawberries in a sieve