The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen - What To Buy Organic

The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit with a noble mission, “to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment.” They have an incredible website with information ranging from a database on the safety of your cosmetics, to a calculator that tells you how much canned tuna it is safe for you to eat (based on your weight and sex) without worrying about mercury poisoning.

I found something very helpful on their website that they call the EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. This lists the 12 fruits and vegetables that carry the most pesticides and the 15 with the least (shown above).  For those of us who need a little more information about why it is important to avoid eating pesticides check out GreenBlog's post with some helpful information about it.

This is great for a consumer on a budget because it helps you to know what produce is important to buy organic, and what you can feel safe buying from farms that use pesticides.  They have formatted a handy pocket guide that you can print out and keep in your wallet, and they also have an iphone app that you can download to use at the grocery store.