2018 Dirty Dozen

Each year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases two lists in order to help consumers identify which produce items are being heavily sprayed with pesticides, and therefore should be bought organic and which produce items are okay to purchase not organic.

The items on the dirty dozen list are the ones that you should be buying organic, due to heavy pesticide use. The items on the clean fifteen list are the ones that you can be okay with buying non-organic. It can be expensive to buy all organic, all the time, and this is why I follow these lists when buying produce!

Notice that most of the foods on the clean 15 list have an outer layer which people typically remove before eating. Obviously there are exceptions, but if you are in the grocery store and forgot what is on these two lists, that is usually a good rule of thumb to go by! I hope this helps make your grocery shopping experience easier and healthier!