To buy or not to buy organic, that is. Some friends of ours (who shall remain nameless) say that there is no difference between organic and non-organic foods. They say they can't taste the difference, but as we know, buying organic is not about taste. It's about health, both for the human bodies who may ingest the pesticides and for the planet that may soak them up.In an effort to help those who choose organic, the Environmental Working Group recently tested 43 different fruits and vegetables for trace pesticides. They cleaned them as a typical shopper would clean them (i.e., washed the apples, peeled the bananas, etc.), and measured the amount of pesticides left behind. That research produced a list of 12 foods that should be purchased from the organic section, as well as 12 foods that could be purchased from the mainstream produce section:
12 foods that should always be organic:
- Peaches
- Apples
- Sweet bell peppers
- Celery
- Nectarines
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Lettuce
- Grapes (imported)
- Pears
- Spinach
- Potatoes
- Broccoli
- Eggplant
- Cabbage
- Banana
- Kiwi
- Asparagus
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Mango
- Pineapple
- Sweet corn (frozen)
- Avocado
- Onion
7 comments:
I have that list, too. The Strib published it a few weeks ago. The ones I thought were interesting were the broccoli, cabbage and asparagus. Perhaps they are on there because most of them are local. Obviously they don't have the skins as the other "okay" products. I was wondering why they were on that list instead of the other.
Great post, thanks. We always struggle with which fruits/veggies to buy organic.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog. So happy to see you there - your blog is fun! :)
Thank you! This is helpful. We'll refer to this. I think it's extra-important to pay attention to pesticide consumption when those chemicals are potentially going into small children. Their bodies can't process them as well, and the long term effects are heightened for them.
I agree with you, Carol. I can't figure out why broccoli, cabbage, and asparagus are "OK" in the normal section. They seem like food that would be exposed to spray chemicals and absorbed chemicals. Curious.
Hi, Honey! Have I told you lately how much I enjoy reading your musings? You do write very well. I think you should think about writing something for publication (other than the SSND news, I mean)
Oh, Carol...you and your lack of bias.
I use that list quite often, but I also try to buy local, so if I can't get it from a local farmer organic, I am still more likely to buy the item from a local farmer than go to the store and buy organic. The chemical burden is higher to the body and land, but the additional costs to the environment during the transportation process is decreased. I guess it's all about trade-offs.
So true, Maria! There's a peach orchard/vegetable farm just down the road from our house. I drive through it every morning on my way to work, and I often see them spraying the fields with chemicals. But I always get our fruits and vegetables there in the summertime.
Post a Comment