Pesticides in Foods

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Test Results: Complete Data Set

Rank (worst to best)	Commodity	Combined Score	Percentage of SamplesTested with Detectable Pesticides	Percentage of SamplesWith Two or More Pesticides	Average Number of Pesticides Found on a Sample	*Average Amount (in ppm) of All Pesticides Found**	Maximum Number of Pesticides Found on a Single Sample	Number of Pesticides Found on the Commodity in Total
1	Peaches	100	96.6%	86.6%	3.1	1.134	9	42
2	Apples	96	93.6%	82.3%	2.8	0.894	9	50
3	Sweet Bell Peppers	86	81.5%	62.2%	2.4	0.138	11	64
4	Celery	85	94.1%	79.8%	3.0	0.413	9	30
5	Nectarines	84	97.3%	85.3%	3.0	0.576	7	26
6	Strawberries	83	92.3%	69.2%	2.3	0.799	8	38
7	Cherries	75	91.4%	75.8%	2.8	0.290	7	25
8	Lettuce	69	68.2%	44.2%	1.7	0.142	9	57
9	Grapes - Imported	68	84.2%	53.2%	1.8	0.284	8	37
10	Pears	65	86.2%	45.7%	1.6	0.586	6	33
11	Spinach	60	70.0%	31.2%	1.1	1.240	6	24
12	Potatoes	58	81.0%	18.0%	1.0	1.655	4	18
13	Carrots	57	81.7%	48.3%	1.6	0.046	6	31
14	Green Beans	55	67.6%	42.0%	1.4	0.199	6	35
15	Hot Peppers	53	55.0%	27.5%	1.0	0.290	6	51
16	Cucumbers	52	72.5%	31.7%	1.2	0.057	6	40
17	Raspberries	47	47.9%	23.3%	0.9	0.906	6	21
18	Plums	46	74.0%	27.1%	1.1	0.666	4	15
19	Oranges	46	85.1%	34.6%	1.3	0.100	4	18
20	Grapes - Domestic	46	60.5%	23.4%	0.9	0.104	7	31
21	Cauliflower	39	84.6%	14.6%	1.0	0.004	5	15
22	Tangerines	38	66.7%	33.3%	1.2	0.375	3	4
23	Mushrooms	37	60.2%	22.3%	0.9	0.158	5	16
24	Cantaloupe	34	53.3%	19.4%	0.8	0.026	4	25
25	Lemon	31	55.6%	10.0%	0.7	0.188	5	10
26	Honeydew Melon	31	59.2%	14.2%	0.8	0.012	4	16
27	Grapefruit	31	62.9%	15.2%	0.8	0.056	4	9
28	Winter Squash	31	41.3%	11.6%	0.6	0.017	5	26
29	Tomatoes	30	46.9%	13.5%	0.6	0.029	5	16
30	Sweet Potatoes	30	58.4%	10.0%	0.7	0.198	3	17
31	Watermelons	25	38.5%	13.2%	0.6	0.021	4	13
32	Blueberries	24	27.5%	10.0%	0.4	0.327	4	11
33	Papaya	21	23.5%	5.0%	0.3	0.053	4	19
34	Eggplant	19	23.4%	6.9%	0.3	0.013	4	15
35	Broccoli	18	28.1%	3.2%	0.3	0.004	3	19
36	Cabbage	17	17.9%	4.8%	0.2	0.121	3	18
37	Bananas	16	41.7%	2.0%	0.4	0.029	2	7
38	Kiwi	14	15.3%	3.4%	0.2	0.160	3	8
39	Asparagus	11	6.7%	0.6%	0.1	0.026	2	19
40	Sweet Peas - Frozen	11	22.9%	2.3%	0.3	0.010	2	5
41	Mango	9	7.1%	0.5%	0.1	0.057	2	13
42	Pineapples	7	7.7%	0.6%	0.1	0.002	2	7
43	Sweet Corn - Frozen	2	3.8%	0.0%	0.0	0.005	1	3
44	Avocado	1	1.4%	0.0%	0.0	0.001	1	2
45	Onions	1	0.2%	0.0%	0.0	0.000	1	2

Note: We ranked a total of 44 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.

* ppm means parts per million

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Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce by Environmental Working Group is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.