Over at Vegan Bits, there is a list of the 16 Most Contaminated Fruits. Peaches ranked number one in the EWG study, with 96.6% with at least one detectable pesticide. How scary is that?

If you aren’t already eating organic foods, now’s the time to start. I know that many times organic foods are a bit more expensive, but your health is worth paying that extra dollar.

You might also want to try shopping at farmer’s markets and produce stands instead of supermarkets. Prices are lower, produce is (much) tastier, you get to meet the people who grew your food, and many times the produce has little to no chemicals on it. How do I know this? I’ve worked for a local farmer for five years.

The farm I work at
The farm I work at
The farm's produce stand
The farm's produce stand

It costs (I think) around $2500 dollars per year to be certified organic. That’s a cost that many small farmers can’t afford. Although the people I worked for did spray the plants as they are growing, there’s no spraying once the fruit is on the plant. Also, even with sprayed plants, the amount will always be far less than on the produce you buy from a supermarket. Chemicals cost money, and like the organic certification, is too expensive for many farms. If you want to know about spraying practices, ask the farmer.

So support your local farms and skip the produce aisle in a supermarket.

Environmental Working Group’s Contamination Chart