When you’re grocery shopping, it’s easy to read labels and pick foods that help you reduce cholesterol and saturated fat, avoid antibiotics or artificial coloring, flavors and sweeteners. But when it comes to pesticides on produce, consumers have been left in the dark. That’s why we’ve partnered with the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to create The Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. This handy wallet-size guide can help you choose produce that lowers pesticide exposure for you and your family.

EWG researchers ranked the 12 popular fresh fruits and vegetables that are most consistently contaminated with the highest levels of pesticides, and those 12 fruits and vegetables that consistently have low levels of pesticides. Using this Shopper’s Guide to avoid the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables, can reduce the number of pesticides in produce you consume by up to 90 percent!

For the most contaminated items, we strongly suggest substituting organically grown produce whenever possible. When this is not an option, we still recommend eating lots of fruits and vegetables but use this guide to buy those that typically have fewer pesticides.

Download the full version of the Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce* now.

To receive a printed wallet card, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Stonyfield Farm, Wallet Card Offer, 10 Burton Drive, Londonderry, NH 03053

How This List Was Developed
The produce ranking was developed by researchers at EWG by analyzing over 100,000 of the latest government reports on pesticide levels. The data is from the USDA Pesticide Data Program (PDP) and the FDA Pesticide Monitoring Program.

EWG created a ranking system for pesticide contamination based on a variety of factors including the overall levels of pesticides found on each food as well as the number of pesticides found on each item. For instance, the analysis found that over 93% of all peaches tested positive for the presence of pesticide residues. In total 45 pesticides were found on fresh peaches, with one peach sample containing over nine pesticides. The relatively large amount of residues and the number of pesticides found on the peaches made them one of the most contaminated of all fresh fruits and vegetables.

Stonyfield Farm realized how critical this information was to put into the hands of consumers, and therefore produced the convenient Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, to get this information to consumers in an easy format.

Will Washing and Peeling Help?
The USDA data analyzed to create these lists tested the produce for pesticide residues after it had been washed and prepared in a manner consistent with how the fruit or vegetable would normally be prepared before consumption. For example, apples were washed before testing and bananas were peeled. As the results show, while washing and rinsing fresh produce may help reduce pesticide residues, it does not eliminate them. Peeling may reduce exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?
There is growing evidence in the scientific literature regarding the subtle ways in which small doses of pesticides affect humans, especially during critical periods of fetal development and childhood when they can have long lasting adverse effects. As the toxic effects of pesticides are not well understood or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers may want to consider minimizing exposure to pesticides whenever possible.

To learn more

• See the results of the full study at EWG's Foodnews.org
  
• To learn more about organic visit http://www.stonyfield.com/Organic/
  

To learn more about pesticides