The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 is a shopper’s guide to high pesticide versus low pesticide fruits and vegetables. Basically, the “dirty dozen” details some of the most highly sprayed crops, whereas the “clean 15” are less likely to be sprayed due to various reasons. This was established to help shoppers to budget for buying organic where possible, and if non-organic must be purchased, at least it can be from the “clean 15” list.
The list was established in the USA and is updated every year, however, it still has significance to Australian produce. It is important to note that this list is mainly to do with pesticide and chemical usage on crops, rather than GMO (genetically modified) crops, such as corn.
The 2021 Dirty Dozen were:
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale
- Collard and Mustard Greens
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Cherries
- Peaches
- Pears
- Capsicum and Chilli
- Celery.
The 2021 Clean 15 were:
- Avocados
- Sweet Corn
- Pineapple
- Onions
- Papaya
- Sweet Peas (frozen)
- Eggplant
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Kiwi
- Cauliflower
- Mushrooms
- Melons.
For more information visit the EGW website here.
Want to hear more?
Listen to Episode 7 of Season One of our world-renowned podcast The Shift. Titled ‘On our way out: the decline of our species Part 1‘ this episode looks at how environmental toxins can affect your health – and what you can do to reduce their impact.
