Clean 15 Produce

Eating healthy starts with the right produce, and the Clean 15 produce list makes it easy to choose fruits and vegetables with the least pesticides. These low-pesticide options help you reduce chemical exposure while supporting overall wellness. From crisp apples to fresh spinach, incorporating clean 15 produce into your meals is a simple step toward cleaner, healthier eating.

Its important to eat as clean as possible. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested more than 46,500 samples from 46 fruits and vegetables, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) washing and testing the samples.

The findings:

The USDA and FDA found traces of 251 separate pesticides.

Some of these pesticides have been banned by the EPA for a long, long time.

The vast majority (more than 90 percent) of grapes, nectarines, spinach, apples, cherries and strawberries tested positive for two more pesticides.

Kale, collard and mustard greens, along with some peppers, had the most pesticides.

Less than 2 percent of avocado and sweet corn samples detected pesticides, making them the cleanest produce.

The produce listed below are considered the cleanest and do not necessarily need to be purchased organic as 65 percent of this list had no detectable pesticides. However, note that slightly more than 10 percent of the list below had two or more pesticides, none of them had more than three pesticides detected and a small amount of sweet corn, papaya and summer squash sold in the United States is produced from genetically modified seeds. Buy organic varieties of these crops if you want to avoid genetically modified produce.

The EWG Clean 15 List shows the cleanest produce: Avocados, Sweet corn, Pineapple, Onions, Papaya, Sweet peas (frozen), Asparagus, Honeydew melon, Kiwi, Cabbage, Mushrooms, Mangoes, Sweet Potatoes, Watermelon, Carrots.

Incorporating clean 15 produce into your meals is a simple step toward cleaner, healthier eating. For even more nutrient-packed meal ideas, check out our tasty bone broth recipes that complement these low-pesticide fruits and vegetables.