The Dirty Dozen: Strategies for Avoiding Pesticides

beautiful-food

Industrial food can be beautiful and perfect but at what price. Industrial food may have high levels of contamination from herbicides, pesticides or fungicides. Now there are chemicals added to the food or packaging to make food last longer. Beauty isn't everything.

I just received a very useful list from Big Bear Ranch. This list is to help the family shopper to avoid the vegetables and fruits with the most pesticide residues. This list is especially important for pregnant or breastfeeding woman and small children. This list is developed and updated by the Environmental Workers Group.

I heard this list called The Dirty Dozen. The idea is to avoid the “dirtiest” twelve foods at the bottom of the list. If it is in the budget, purchase organic or biodynamic foods to replace these contaminated foods. In this way, your family will avoid about 80 percent of pesticide residues. The list has the ironic name of Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides.