You walk in the grocery store and you arrive at the produce section. There are advertisements for conventional and organic fruits. You’ll notice that most organic fruits are more expensive than conventional fruits. And if you are on a budget, you can’t afford to buy all your fruits organic. Some fruits that say organic are a waste of money and buying conventional would be totally fine. But there are some fruits that you should only buy organic because of the amount of pesticides. Don’t let poisoned foods slip into your cart, here is my list of fruits to buy organic and fruits that you don’t need to buy organic.
Fruits to Buy Organic:
Peaches:
Sweet and succulent, peaches are just as alluring to insects as to people. Farmers may spray peaches every week or two from bloom to harvest – and peach fuzz can trap pesticides.
Strawberries:
Strawberries are not only sweet and juicy but also delicate and prone to disease, including fungal attacks that can turn them to mush during transit and storage. With apples and peaches, a lot of spraying is cosmetic to get blemish-free fruits. With berries, you’re just trying to get them across the finish line into the store before they go bad.
Apples:
Sweet-smelling and delicious, apples are susceptible to more than 30 insects and at least 10 diseases. And fungicides and other chemicals are added after picking to prevent tiny blemishes that can accumulate during storage of up to 9 months.
Blueberries:
Blueberries are new on the Dirty Dozen list – possibly because the USDA began testing them only 3 years ago, after large increases in production. The berries are targets for insects such as blueberry maggots and bagworms.
Nectarines:
Nectarines differ from peaches only in the absence of fuzz,a trait that likely arose as a natural mutation of a peach tree,so it’s no wonder they’re susceptible to many of the same pests, including oriental fruit moths and peach twig borers. Thanks to their waxy skin, they do not retain as many pesticides as peaches. On the other hand, they are more vulnerable to rot and scarring.
Cherries:
Cherries are a naked fruit,without peel or protection,they are vulnerable to pests such as the western cherry fruit fly. If just one of its maggots are found in a shipment, the entire load of fruit must be dumped, according to quarantine regulations, so growers spray out of fear of losing their crops.
Fruits You Should Buy Conventional:
Pineapples:
Most spraying is done early in the growing season, so minimal residues remain after harvest. Those that do are removed with the thick rind.
Mangoes:
Mangoes are grown in Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, where the dry climate discourages fungus and hand weeding is a common alternative to herbicides. Mangoes are peeled before eating, so you are safe from the pesticides in its skin.
Kiwis:
Lacewings and parasitic wasps help control the pests that like to feed on kiwis. These insects keep the kiwis fresh and are beneficial.
Cantaloupe:
Though the melons are sprayed with insecticides, we don’t ingest them because the fruit is cut out of the thick rind before.
Watermelon:
The fruit has a thick protective rind that is not eaten which means that the thick rind protects the watermelon from pesticides and insects.
Grapefruit:
Although farmers often use fungicides to control green mold, most of the residues remain on the peel.
If buying all organic isn’t a priority – or a financial reality for you – you might opt to buy organic specifically when you’re selecting foods that are most heavily contaminated with pesticide and insecticide residues. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the majority of pesticides now in use are probable or possible cancer causes and this is a major concern when eating produce. This list will help you decide which fruit to buy conventional or organic the next time you are in the grocery store. All produce regardless of being organic or conventional, you should wash or peel it before eating.
Featured image via Daria Shevtsova on Pexels
Such a good grocery list!! Thank you!