Grocery Shopping and Organic Foods

Do you buy organic foods? Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Choosing whether to buy organic produce is a personal choice. Here is a simple breakdown to help you decide.

Organic products tend to be more expensive than non-organic and are less in abundance at most grocery stores because of smaller crop sizes. However, some produce have higher levels of pesticides and should be taken into consideration when deciding to shop organic.

Each year The Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out a shoppers guide that provides consumers with a list of fruits and vegetables that are exposed to both high and low levels of pesticides during farming. This allows consumers to determine which fruits and vegetables would be healthier to buy organic and which ones are safe from non-organic varies. Recently a co-worker of mine introduced me to the EWG’s list of The Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen for 2013. The Dirty list of fruits and vegetables are those we should consider buying organic as they are exposed to the highest amounts of pesticides. The Clean list displays produce that consumers do not have to buy organic, since they are exposed to lower, safer levels of pesticides. This can help you choose the safest produce and save money on your grocery bill!

Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen List for 2013. Source: healthnutfoodie.com

For the full list of the Dirty fruits and vegetables, you can visit: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php

Read through both lists to see which produce you buy regularly and consider switching over if you have not already.