Give These 12 Pesticide-Heavy Fruits and Vegetables an Extra Rinse

No matter where you get your fruits and vegetables, whether it's a fresh delivery, the organic aisle at the supermarket or straight from a local farm, they all need a good wash before you eat them. Between bacterial dangers like E.coli, salmonella and listeria, cross-contamination, other people's hands and the various chemicals left on veggies in the form of pesticides or protectants, no vegetable should avoid a trip to the sink before it enters your mouth. And yes, that includes organic because organic does not mean pesticide-free; it just means no toxic pesticides, a common misconception most grocery shoppers have. Before you get too worked up about pesticides in your produce, consider that the US Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program (PDF) found over 99% of foods sampled measured residue levels that met the safety standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency, with 27% having no detectable pesticide residues at all. In short: Some residue is OK, and not ... Read full article.