5 Pesticide Soaked Fruits and Vegetables To Avoid At All Costs

As you can probably guess from the name of our blog, we are big supporters of organic foods and produce. Mainstream media often downplays the importance of eating organic, but many people still make the healthy switch to organic foods.

Although the organic industry and movement is growing, many people still don’t know about the dangers many fruits and vegetables pose due to the contaminants that they now contain from pesticides.

We want to highlight 5 fruits and vegetables to avoid at all costs. These fruits and vegetables all contain more than 45 different pesticide residues over large samples taken by the USDA.

Enjoy the read, and stay away from these! 

1. Apples 

Although beloved by many people around the country, and widely regarded as a health food, apples contain dangerous amounts of pesticides. Need proof? Europe recently banned all American apples because of pesticides.

In the USDA’s pesticide data program in 2010, they found over 47 different pesticide residues in conventional apples. Although organic apples are slowly growing, it still means your getting a ton of contaminants in every bite of the conventional apple.

2. Celery

One of my favorite fun facts is you burn more calories eating celery than this vegetable contains. However, 64 different pesticide residues were found by the PDP in 2008. Of these 64 pesticides, 12 different neurotoxins and 10 known carcinogens were found according to the Center for Food Safety.

3. Peaches 

What makes them great, makes them risky. The soft skin of peaches leads to them containing extremely high amounts of chemicals that could be dangerous for your health.

A 2008 study by the PDP found over 62 different pesticide residues on conventional peaches. Of those 62 contaminants, 12 are neurotoxins and 8 are carcinogens! The soft skin of the peach makes it very difficult to wash off the toxins so watch out!

4. Strawberries

Delicious yes, but conventional strawberries contain extremely high levels of pesticides that can cause a ton of harm to your brain and nervous system. Not only this, but there are over 45 different pesticides found in conventional strawberries.

Next time your at your local grocery store or farmers market, spend the extra money and pick up organic strawberries.

5. Grapes 

Grapes are just as, if not more dangerous than the other fruits we’ve listed. And that includes wine for all you wino’s out there.

Grapes have been found to contain 56 different pesticide residues as of 2010. These pesticides include eight known carcinogens and four developmental or reproductive toxins. Exposure to these pesticide has been linked to reduced infertility, miscarriage and a number of developmental defects according to the Pesticide Action Network.

 

Next time your at the grocery store, head over to the organic section and stay away rom the conventional options of these 5!