The 2024 Clean Fifteen Dirty Dozen List: Your Shopping Necessity

We know we need to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Recommendations suggest consuming up to eight servings a day minimum (6 vegetables/2 fruits). However, growing concern over the impact of pesticides and fungicides sprayed on our produce is real and needs to be considered. That is why we are so appreciative of the work done by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that provides individuals with the information they need to live cleaner, healthier lives. Every year they come out with a list of the cleanest, and dirtiest, produce to help guide our buying choices.

While buying organic produce is preferred, this is not always an option due to cost and availability. The EWG guide can help steer our choices. In March 2024, they released a list of this year’s cleanest and dirtiest options.

Across fruits and vegetables from EWG’s Dirty Dozen – the Shopper’s Guide component that identifies the 12 non-organic, or conventional, fresh produce with the most pesticides – four of the five most frequently detected chemicals are fungicides:

• fludioxonil
• pyraclostrobin
• boscalid
• pyrimethanil

Two of these, fludioxonil and pyrimethanil, also show up in the highest average concentrations of any pesticides found on the Dirty Dozen. Both fungicides may be endocrine disruptors with the potential to harm the male reproductive system. According to some studies, male sperm counts have dropped by as much as 59%, so it is crucial we consider this data. The lead EWG Senior Toxicologist, Alexis Temkin, PhD, noted that while more studies are needed, there is mounting evidence that these common pesticides and fungicides disrupt human hormone systems and are detrimental to adults and reproductive systems, but what is particularly worrisome is their effects on children.

Farmers and producers apply these fungicides to produce and keep mold free for longer. Since much of the produce we buy in the grocery store was picked weeks ago, it is important to keep it fresh longer. This explains why the concentrations are so high on many of the samples studied by EWG. Extended travel and shipping times necessitate this to keep the produce on the shelf longer. This is another reason why buying locally makes sense. Produce that travels across the country may be on produce aisles two weeks after being picked.

In this year’s studies, EWG also found that 75 percent of all conventional produce sampled also had residues of potentially harmful pesticides like glyphosate ( Roundup ), the pesticide known to increase the risk of cancer in humans. In fact, over 95% of the items on the Dirty Dozen list contain such pesticides. Immediate exposure to Roundup can cause respiratory irritation, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and diarrhea. Long-term exposure may increase the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers, as well as autism or Alzheimer’s. Skin contact with Roundup can cause severe irritation, photo-contact dermatitis, or burns. In addition, we also know Roundup is toxic to dogs and other animals like birds and fish. The pesticide kills beneficial bacteria in the soil and reduces the nutrients in the soil’s microbiome.

“Everyone – adults and kids – should eat more fruits and vegetables, whether organic or not,” said EWG Senior Scientist Alexa Friedman, Ph.D. “But consumers concerned about pesticide exposure can use the suite of materials in EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce to make the best choices for them and their families.” EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce analyzes data from the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration tests on 47,510 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables.

The process of analyzing fruits and vegetables through the USDA differs in that samples are scrubbed and peeled before testing. Despite this preparation, the produce, while showing lower levels, still exceeds the amounts of over 254 pesticides in all fruits and vegetables. The USDA cut-offs are not acceptable. No amount of DNA-altering, hormone-disrupting, and cancer-causing compounds should be acceptable, but low or absent levels are preferred.

That’s why the Shopper’s Guide also includes the Clean FifteenTM, a list of fruits and vegetables with very low or no pesticide residues. Almost 65 percent of EWG’s 2024 Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues. “EWG recommends consumers seeking fresh produce with low pesticide residues buy organic versions of items on EWG’s Dirty Dozen and either organic or conventional versions of produce on the Clean Fifteen,” Temkin said. “There are also many organic and Clean Fifteen options in the frozen food aisle.”

If you want to learn more about how EWG’s Dirty Dozen Clean Fifteen list was developed check out the content at EWG.org. This site is filled with research, advocacy, and unique education tools that can help drive consumer advocacy and choices.