The Dirty Dozen list, featuring the most chemically sprayed produce, is explored. Strawberries top the list with high pesticide residues, followed by spinach and kale. The video offers tips to avoid pesticides, like buying organic, supporting local farmers, and growing your own produce. The importance of supplementing is also highlighted, with a teaser for a follow-up on the least sprayed produce.
The 2024 Dirty Dozen List
Transcript
Do you want to avoid pesticides but not break the bank? Let’s start with the Dirty Dozen list.
A lot of fruits and vegetables are contaminated with pesticides, and unfortunately, when we’re walking through the supermarket, it can be really hard to tell what is what. The Dirty Dozen list is an annual list released by the EWG of the most chemically sprayed produce. So let’s find out what they are. At the top of the list, winning the most sprayed, unfortunately, it’s strawberries.
In 2023, the USDA did a test on strawberries that showed 99% of conventional strawberries tested had at least one pesticide, and up to 30% had 10 or more pesticide residues. There was even one strawberry that had residues of 22 different pesticide products.
The second most highly contaminated produce was spinach. We’re always told to eat spinach to be healthy, but with conventional spinach, you could be consuming high levels of pesticide and even fungicide residues.
And number three on the list, kale, collard, and mustard greens. We all love a good kale salad once in a while, but it may just be more toxic than what it’s worth.
The rest of the highly sprayed list are grapes, peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, bell peppers, hot peppers, cherries, blueberries, and green beans.
So how can you make sure that you’re lowering the amount of pesticides you consume when buying these specific fruits and vegetables? Try your best to buy organic. It’s not always possible, but at least knowing these varieties, you’re able to avoid some of the most highly contaminated varieties. If you can find a local regenerative farmer that grows these items, it’s really great to support localized farmers that care about your health and the environment and are trying to cut down on their chemical load.
While winters are cold in Canada, trying to grow your own in the summer is a great option. It’s not always possible, and some of these are a little bit difficult to grow, but some like kale, collard, mustard greens, peppers, and even green beans are all fairly beginner-friendly and can be grown in pots. That’s what I do at home, growing them in my own backyard.
Some people may choose with this Dirty Dozen list to not buy any of these produce, but then you’d be missing out on some really key nutrients, and so that’s why it’s important to supplement. If you choose not to eat these foods, please make sure to stay tuned for part two on the vegetables and fruits that are the least sprayed.
So will you be avoiding the Dirty Dozen list?