(Dani-Elle Dubé/ Global News) — Strawberries and celery sure do sound like healthy choices to munch on – but are you confident they’re free of pesticides?
If that has you questioning your choices, you may want to consult the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) fourth annual Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 list – a list revealing the produce with the highest loads of pesticide residue, and the least, respectively.
And for the third year in a row, strawberries take the top spot as the produce with the most pesticides with 22 residues detected. This is followed by spinach (which tested positive for high concentrations of the neurotoxic insecticide permethrin) and nectarines.
“Many shoppers don’t realize that pesticide residues are common on conventionally grown produce – even after it is carefully washed or peeled,” Sonya Lunder, senior analyst at EWG, wrote in a statement. “EWG’s analysis of tests by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that nearly 70 per cent of samples of conventionally grown produce were contaminated with pesticide residues.” (…)