Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen

We've probably all heard of the "dirty dozen" by now...it's the 12 fruits and vegetables that contain the most pesticides when grown conventionally. Buying organic can be expensive, but these are the 12 produce we should actually splurge on for the organic (or at least eat less of the conventionally grown). There's also the "clean 15," or the fruits and veggies with the least amount of pesticides when grown conventionally. Then there's the grey area in the middle...the ones with some pesticides, so it's good to buy organic when possible, but they're not TOO bad.

Here's a handy list with the top 47 most eaten produce to keep around when grocery shopping. It's listed in order from worst pesticide offenders (#1) to least pesticide offenders (#47) and was borrowed from Organic Grocery Deals.

1 (worst) Peach (highest pesticide load)
2 Apple
3 Sweet Bell Pepper
4 Celery
5 Nectarine
6 Strawberries
7 Cherries
8 Kale
9 Lettuce
10 Grapes - Imported
11 Carrot
12 Pear (this ends the dirty dozen)
13 Collard Greens
14 Spinach
15 Potato
16 Green Beans
17 Summer Squash
18 Peppers
19 Cucumber
20 Raspberries
21 Grapes - Domestic
22 Plum
23 Orange
24 Cauliflower
25 Tangerine
26 Mushrooms
27 Banana
28 Winter Squash
29 Cantaloupe
30 Cranberries
31 Honeydew Melon
32 Grapefruit
33 Sweet Potato (here we begin the clean 15)
34 Tomato
35 Broccoli
36 Watermelon
37 Papaya
38 Eggplant
39 Cabbage
40 Kiwi
41 Sweet Peas
42 Asparagus
43 Mango
44 Pineapple
45 Sweet Corn - Frozen
46 Avocado
47 (best) Onion(lowest pesticide load)