I've seen quite a few of these lists published - they're the top foods to choose organic when you can, because they are crops that are typically grown with excessive use of pesticides. I've also read that for produce, if you eat the skin (anything you don't have to peel first), you should buy organic.
Other high pesticide foods include: imported grapes, bell peppers, spinach, cherries, Mexican cantaloupe, celery and apricots (from Care2.com) .
Top 10 Foods to Eat Organic, from the SeventhGeneration website:
1. Baby Food - Babies are extraordinarily susceptible to pesticides. Two brands of organic baby food (Earth's Best and Well-Fed Baby) are on the market, or you can make your own by cooking and pureeing organic produce.
2. Strawberries - To ensure that strawberries survive the rigors of factory farming and transport, growers use layers of chemicals. Best bet: eat them in season from local organic farms.
3. Rice - Domestic rice is often farmed with heavy doses of pesticides. As rice has a long shelf life, organic varieties can be bought in quantity and stored.
4. Other grains - As we shift our diets to include more fiber, organic sources of grain become ever more important.
5. Milk - Commercial brands may contain bovine antibiotics and, increasingly, growth hormones.
6. Corn - Although corn is usually low in artificial pesticides, Americans eat an average of 11 pounds per year, so organic shopping makes sense. Look for local organic corn in season.
7. Bananas - A short window of ripeness and a long distance to market add up to heavy pesticide use by many banana producers. Organic brands include: Eco-Fruit and Made in Nature.
8. Green Beans - Over 60 different pesticides are used on green beans. Even the green beans used in baby food have been found to be contaminated.
9. Peaches - Peaches often have the highest rates of illegally applied pesticides.
10. Apples - A decade after Alar abuse was exposed, many apples are still soaked in pesticides, but fortunately, the number of organic growers is soaring.
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