Pesticides in Your Food

Foodnews.org has a list of the top produce items that retain various noxious chemicals/pesticides under normal preparation.

... [F]ruits topped the list of the consistently most contaminated fruits and vegetables, with eight of the 12 most contaminated foods. Among the top six were four fruits, with peaches leading the list, then strawberries, apples and nectarines. Pears, cherries, red raspberries, and imported grapes were the other four fruits in the top 12.

... Spinach, celery, potatoes, and sweet bell peppers are the vegetables most likely to expose consumers to pesticides.

... The vegetables least likely to have pesticides on them are sweet corn, avocado, cauliflower, asparagus, onions, peas and broccoli.

... The five fruits least likely to have pesticide residues on them are pineapples, mangoes, bananas, kiwi and papaya.

My take is that since the numbers are normalized to range from zero to 100, I have no idea just how bad the top fruits and vegetables might be for me. Ms. Eclectic, however, will likely begin looking for organic versions of some of those near the top of the lists.

[thanks to BenS and ES for the tip]