Studies show that Australian adults and children need to eat more vegetables and fruit, but are they all equal? Well, not really!
Almost 70% of conventionally grown fruit and vegetables have pesticide residues. Eating foods high in pesticides can be linked to lower pregnancy rates and poor sperm motility, and be potentially harmful to children’s brains and nervous systems.
The Environmental Work Group put out a shopping guide for consumers to show them which vegetables and fruit contain more pesticides. They found that spinach has almost double the amount of pesticides than any other fruit or vegetable, and strawberries contain at least ten pesticide residues.
The guide includes the dirty dozen, which are fruit and vegetables higher in pesticides and should be swapped to organic and the clean 15, which are 15 fruit and vegetables which are ok to consume from conventional growing. Dirty dozen Fruits and vegetables with high pesticide residue that you should buy organic where possible
· Spinach · Strawberries · Apples · Grapes · Peaches · Tomatoes · Nectarines · Celery · Capsicum · Potatoes · Cherries · Pears
Clean 15 Foods that you can eat grown conventionally with low pesticides
· Bananas · Avocados · Cabbage · Onions · Sweet potato · Corn · Pineapples · Asparagus · Papaya · Mango · Cantaloupe · Broccoli · Honeydew melon · Eggplant cauliflower · Kiwi fruit