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# Pesticides plague produce posing problems for parents
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/pesticides_0614110648/
- Published: 2011-06-14T07:54:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:08:12.000Z
- Description: EWG's seventh Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce puts apples atop the Dirty Dozen, displacing celery, after USDA testing found pesticides on 98 percent of more than 700 samples. Newly tested cilantro carried 33 unapproved pesticides on 44 percent of its samples.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Chemical, Food Safety, #vivvo-import

by Aimee Keenan-Greene

Apples are now considered the most contaminated produce, leaping up the list to replace celery at the top of the Environmental Working Group's ([EWG](http://www.ewg.org/release/ewgs-2011-shoppers-guide-helps-cut-consumer-pesticide-exposure?ref=foodconsumer.org)) 'Dirty Dozen' list.

According to the USDA, pesticides showed up on 98 percent of the more than 700 apple samples tested. Pesticides can be extremely toxic to human health and the environment. U.S. and international government agencies alike have linked pesticides to nervous system toxicity, cancer, hormone system disruption and IQ deficits among children.

The non-profit EWG just released the seventh edition of its Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce with updated information on 53 fruits and vegetables and their total pesticide loads.

Analysts at EWG looked at data collected from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration from 2000 to 2009\. Produce is ranked based on a composite score, equally weighing six factors that reflect how many pesticides was found in testing of on each type of the produce and at what levels. Most samples are washed and peeled prior to being tested, so the rankings reflect the amounts of the chemicals likely present on the food when is it eaten.

New to the list, is the herb cilantro, which had never been tested by USDA until now. The data showed 33 unapproved pesticides on 44 percent of the cilantro samples tested, which is the highest percentage of unapproved pesticides recorded on any item included in the guide since EWG started tracking the data in 1995.

Also appearing in the guide for the first time are green onions, cranberries and mushrooms. Mushrooms made the “Clean 15” list, while honeydew was the only item to drop off that list this year. Cherries dropped off the “Dirty Dozen” list, but lettuce, which has made the list in previous years, was back on.

Consumers who choose five servings of fruits and vegetables a day from EWG's Clean 15 list rather than from the Dirty Dozen can lower the volume of pesticides they consume by 92 percent, that means consuming fewer than two pesticides per day. Picking five servings of fruits and vegetables from the 12 most-contaminated products would result in consuming an average of 14 different pesticides a day. 

The best bet, going organic. Click [here](https://www.foodconsumer.org/ewg%5Fs%5Fshopper%5Fs%5Fguide%5Fto%5Fpesticides%5Fin%5Fproduce%5F0613110853/) for the [complete list](https://www.foodconsumer.org/ewg%5Fs%5Fshopper%5Fs%5Fguide%5Fto%5Fpesticides%5Fin%5Fproduce%5F0613110853/) of produce pesticide problems.