Healthy Eating Budget Cooking Guide 2024 Clean Fifteen List: 15 Foods You Don't Need to Buy Organic Some fruits and vegetables are less likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues. Here's which ones. By Penelope Wall Penelope Wall Penelope Wall oversees the digital editorial vision of EatingWell—drawing on both her passion for food, wellness and storytelling and over 20 years experience in digital content strategy and editorial. Penelope has a bachelor's degree in English and studio art and a minor in French from Middlebury College. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines and Carrie Myers, M.S. Carrie Myers, M.S. Carrie Myers is a portfolio entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the health and wellness space. As a freelance writer and editor, Carrie has worked for both consumer and trade print and online publications. She's been quoted in several articles as a health and fitness expert. Carrie is also a certified life and wellness coach and exercise physiologist, and the founder of CarrieMichele Co., a lifestyle company that helps women create lives they love where they can be authentic. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Updated on July 22, 2024 Reviewed by Dietitian Christa Brown, M.S., RDN, LD Reviewed by Dietitian Christa Brown, M.S., RDN, LD Christa Brown is a registered dietitian and business owner with a practice focus on diabetes management and content development for brands and fitness influencers. She is a licensed dietitian with a Master of Science in Nutrition Education and a certification in gut health by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Close Eating more fruits and vegetables—organic or not—is better than eating none at all. And while many would love to be able to buy organic produce all the time, it can be expensive. Is the price of organic worth it for your health? Pesticides can be absorbed into fruits and vegetables, leaving trace residues. Research has shown that higher exposure to pesticides may increase the risk of many health consequences, from immediate effects like throat irritation, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and dizziness to asthma, certain types of cancers and cognitive and reproductive issues from long-term exposure. One way to limit your exposure to pesticides is by choosing organic. But if that's not a financial reality for your family, you can also shop smarter: Buy conventional produce that's the least likely to contain pesticide residues and save your organic dollars for produce that tends to have the highest amounts of pesticide residue (aka the Dirty Dozen). I'm a Dietitian & I Don't Usually Buy Organic—Here's Why Pictured recipe: Salmon-Stuffed Avocados Every year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, releases a Shopper's Guide to Pesticides that identifies fruits and vegetables with the highest and lowest pesticide residues. The Clean Fifteen is the list of foods that are least likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues, so if budget is a concern, you can feel good about buying these 15 fruits and vegetables conventional. According to EWG: Of the Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples, almost 65% had no detectable pesticide residue.Avocados and sweet corn were the cleanest produce – less than 2 percent of samples of each showed any detectable pesticides.Just over 10% of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had residues of two or more pesticides.No sample from the first six Clean Fifteen items tested positive for more than three pesticides. Of note: Some produce—like corn and papayas—might be grown from genetically engineered seeds. If you try to avoid genetically engineered foods, you will want to opt for organic corn and papaya or find brands that carry the Non-GMO Project Verified label. Another way to tell if your produce is organic, conventional or genetically modified is to check the little PLU label on the produce. Here's EWG's 2023 list of the Clean Fifteen, starting with the least contaminated food, along with some tasty ways to eat them. 1. Avocados Pictured Recipe: Avocado Toast with Burrata 2. Sweet Corn Photographer: Antonis Achilleos, Prop Stylist: Christine Keely, Food Stylist: Karen Rankin Pictured Recipe: Skillet Corn 3. Pineapple Pictured Recipe: Pineapple & Cucumber Salad 4. Onions Jacob Fox Pictured Recipe: Melting Onions 5. Papaya Jenny Huang Pictured Recipe: Dulce de Papaya con Jengibre y Cúrcuma (Candied Green Papaya with Ginger & Turmeric) 6. Frozen Sweet Peas Pictured Recipe: Lemony Linguine with Peas 7. Asparagus Pictured Recipe: Grilled Asparagus 8. Honeydew Melon Pictured Recipe: Honeydew Melon Agua Fresca 9. Kiwi Pictured Recipe: Chocolate-Pistachio Kiwi 10. Cabbage Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayliss Pictured Recipe: Cabbage Steaks with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce 11. Watermelon Pictured Recipe: Watermelon, Cucumber & Feta Salad 12. Mushrooms Pictured Recipe: Roasted Mushrooms with Brown Butter & Parmesan 13. Mangoes Photography / Caitlin Bensel, Food Styling / Emily Nabors Hall Pictured Recipe: Mango & Avocado Salad 14. Sweet Potatoes Ali Redmond Pictured Recipe: Hasselback Sweet Potatoes with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce 15. Carrots Victor Protasio Pictured Recipe: Cumin-Roasted Carrots with Dill Yogurt Sauce Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy. Kim K-H, Kabir E, Jahan SA. Exposure to pesticides and the associated human health effects. Science of The Total Environment. 2017;575:525-535. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.009 Environmental Working Group. EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Environmental Working Group. EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide The Clean Fifteen.