Pesticides in produce: Dirty Dozen vs. Clean Fifteen

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - After taking a trip to the grocery store and before you prepare your meal, you may want to exercise a little more caution in the kitchen.

The 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce has been released and strawberries, along with spinach sit in the top two spots of the Dirty Dozen.

Kale came in third place with collard greens and mustard greens right behind it.

The report goes on to say nearly 90% of blueberries and green bean samples had alarming findings, including more types of pesticides than in previous years.

Experts say exposing yourself to food with pesticides could potentially be harmful, especially for children and pregnant women.

If you can’t buy your fruits and vegetables organic and pesticide-free, researchers suggest that you properly wash the food items.

At the top of the list for least-contaminated foods, are avocados followed by sweet corn.

The results of the report came from almost 47,000 samples tested by the Department of Agriculture.

Click here to view the Dirty Dozen.

Click here to take a look at the Clean Fifteen.

Click here to report a typo.

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