WHEN IT MATTERS MOST TO BUY ORGANIC PRODUCE

Choosing organic produce benefits the environment as well as our own health. Among the many benefits to the environment are sustainability, avoiding pollution of ground water, and encouraging biodiversity.

Organic produce can be purchased at Fred Meyer’s, Costco, the Olympia Food Co-Op and other local grocery stores. Of course, if you’re eating pesticide-free produce grown in the Pea Patch gardens, that’s even better.

Although it’s desirable to buy organic produce whenever you can, sometimes that isn’t possible or practical. In case you’re wondering which non-organic fruits and vegetables are safest and which ones are least safe, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published lists to help answer these questions. EWG is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment.”

The “Dirty Dozen” is a list of fruits and vegetables that are most likely to be tainted if you don’t buy organic. The “Clean 15” is a list of fruits and vegetables that are relatively pesticide-free, even if they aren’t organic. Here are the current lists as of July 2016:

(1) Dirty Dozen
When buying fruits & veggies on this list, you should buy organic.

Potatoes have dropped off the list, but they were on the previous “dirty dozen” list. Green beans and kale are moving up on the most sprayed list.

(2) Clean 15
These are fruits and vegetables that you can eat conventionally because they are not sprayed as heavily with pesticides.

References:
(1) Environmental Benefits of Organic Produce: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq6/en/
(2) Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Environmental Working Group (EWG)
https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

Reprinted from the August 2016 Panorama News

Panorama Green Team

WHEN IT MATTERS MOST TO BUY ORGANIC PRODUCE

Lacey, Washington