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foodandwine120My last two columns dealt with various aspects of organic food.  Now, I’d like to get down to the nitty gritty and tell you which foods matter when you choose organic.

The non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) publishes a Shoppers’ Guide to Pesticides and deals with fruits and vegetables that are both dangerous and less dangerous in terms of pesticide residue. If you find organic produce difficult to find or too expensive, you might not want to spend too much of your time or money on the following items which are considered relatively “clean”. According to the EWG, eating five servings each day from this group will reduce your exposure to pesticides almost 90% compared to equal servings of, what is usually referred to as “the Dirty Dozen” or “the Dirty Dozen Plus”.
  • Onions
  • Sweet corn
  • Pineapples
  • Avocado
  • Asparagus
  • Sweet peas
  • Mangoes
  • Eggplant
  • Cantaloupe (if it’s domestic)
  • Kiwi
  • Cabbage
  • Watermelon
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Grapefruit
  • Mushrooms
  • Broccoli
  • Bananas

Note that there are no dairy products on the list. That’s because most dairy cows are routinely fed growth hormones to boost their milk production. Some people suspect that these hormones are responsible for breast and prostate cancer in humans. To get around this, if you have children who drink a lot of milk buy organic milk and look for organic by-products like cheese and yogurt.

If I ever use the zest of citrus fruits, I try to buy organic because skin harbors bacteria and then, to be safe, I wash it anyway.  In fact,  my general rule is: wash everything because even organic food can harbor bacteria. Maybe I’m the suspenders-belt type but I even rinse “doubly washed spinach”.

In my next column I’ll discuss the dirty dozen.

Click here to send comments to me.  I will answer each one personally and will print those that are of general interest.

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