Organic Food & Pesticides

EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

EWG's Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™, updated every year since 2004, ranks the pesticide contamination of 47 popular fruits and vegetables. The guide is based on test results by the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration of more than 43,000 samples of produce. It is important to note that the samples are tested for pesticides after they have been prepared to be eaten. This means the produce has been thoroughly washed and, when applicable, peeled. After these preparations, pesticide residues are still detected on many of the fruits and veggies.

Organic Produce Has Pesticides, Too

The Environmental Working Group has once again released their Dirty Dozen list — the fruits and veggies they say are covered in pesticides. One minor detail: organic produce contains pesticides, too, but that doesn't quite fit their narrative.

Organic Pesticides: Not An Oxymoron

It may seem counterintuitive, but foods that are grown to organic standards can contain commercially manufactured pesticides.

Organics Have a Deserved Good Reputation

Organic foods reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals, promote ecological farming practices and conserve vital resources like soil, water, and biodiversity.

Don’t believe everything you hear about pesticides on fruits and vegetables

Consumers should not avoid fruits and vegetables simply out of fear, or because they cannot afford the often higher cost of organic fruits and vegetables. No fruits or vegetables are nutritious until they’re eaten.

Eating organic food significantly lowers pesticide exposure: study

Eating an organic diet for a week can cause pesticide levels to drop by almost 90% in adults, research from RMIT University has found.

Going organic: Are organic pesticides safer than their synthetic counterparts?

“First we should define what makes a pesticide organic. In most circumstances, an organic product, whether it is a pesticide or a fertilizer, is derived from the remains or byproducts of a living or once-living organism. Typically these products are marketed as natural, which reinforces the image these products are from nature and are therefore harmless.”

How to actually remove pesticides from your fruit

It's not unreasonable to want to consume fewer of the chemicals we use to kill off bugs and weeds. You should just make sure that what you're doing is actually effective.

Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming > Conventional Agriculture

When the Soil Association, a major organic accreditation body in the UK, asked consumers why they buy organic food, 95% of them said their top reason was to avoid pesticides. They, like many people, believe that organic farming involves little to no pesticide use. I hate to burst the bubble, but that's simply not true. Organic farming, just like other forms of agriculture, still uses pesticides and fungicides to prevent critters from destroying their crops. Confused?

Study of Organic Crops Finds Fewer Pesticides and More Antioxidants

Adding fuel to the debates over the merits of organic food, a comprehensive review of earlier studies found substantially higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of pesticides in organic fruits, vegetables and grains compared with conventionally grown produce.

The truth about organic produce and pesticides

I’ve been following these issues for a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of evidence that organic foods have lower levels of pesticide residues than conventional foods, so I was surprised to read a two-part analysis on Forbes.com by Steve Savage, a conventional-side plant scientist I know and respect, showing that the number of residues, and the amount of pesticide in those residues, were virtually the same for organic and conventional foods. What could be happening in our food supply for the difference in pesticide levels to narrow so markedly? That would make an interesting column, I thought. So I started asking people, but nobody had a good explanation.

Yes, Organic Food Has Pesticides—but That Shouldn’t Scare You Off of Veggies

True or false: Organic produce is always grown without pesticides. If you answered true…sorry, but you’ve got it twisted. Surprising, right? The truth is that many organic farmers rely on pesticides and herbicides—substances used protect crops from insects, weeds, and infections—from a relatively small list that’s regularly vetted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).