Food that doesn't need to be organic

[Melaine]

I thought this was interesting:


12 Foods You Don't Have to Buy Organic

The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that protect global and individual health, produces the Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce. It is based on the results of nearly 43,000 pesticide tests.

Organic fruits and vegetables are by definition grown without the use of pesticides. But some find the expense of organic foods prohibitive.

Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories in the Guide to Pesticides, the following twelve foods had the lowest pesticide load when conventionally grown. Consequently, they are the safest conventionally grown crops to consume:

* Broccoli
* Eggplant
* Cabbage
* Banana
* Kiwi
* Asparagus
* Sweet peas (frozen)
* Mango
* Pineapple
* Sweet corn (frozen)
* Avocado
* Onion

[o_mom]

They have a nifty wallet card on this page: http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG_pesticide.pdf

It lists the twelve highest and lowest pesticide levels by fruit/vege.

[Melaine]

That is so cool!!

[writermama]

The thing about corn, though. If you buy non-organic corn you are almost certainly getting a genetically modified plant. If you want to avoid GMO (Genetically modified organisms), then you want to stay away from conventional corn ...

And then even organic corn gets cross-polinated, but that's a whole 'nother issue.

[alexsmommy]

Thanks - I have seen this before but somewhere along the line we lost the copy that was on the fridge. I knew the "thick/unedible skin" better than not general rule, but didn't realize that broccoli wasn't horrible. Since that is our go-to veggie for the kids (um, meanign the only one they will eat without much complaining) and we are cutting back, I had long ago stopped getting organic. This make me feel better.

[brittone2]

The thing about corn, though. If you buy non-organic corn you are almost certainly getting a genetically modified plant. If you want to avoid GMO (Genetically modified organisms), then you want to stay away from conventional corn ...

And then even organic corn gets cross-polinated, but that's a whole 'nother issue.

In articles on organic eating, I wish they pointed more things like that out. The other thing to consider is *why* your family is eating organic. For example, we often still buy organic fair trade bananas because they are still pretty inexpensive for fruit (89cents/lb). While a lot of the fungicides, pesticides, etc. don't penetrate the skin, they are still used on banana crops which has an environmental impact. Also the number of birth defects and medical issues among those exposed to the pesticides in the areas where bananas are grown are pretty horrible. There has been some newspaper coverage on it in the past 10-15 years that is pretty astounding.

Anyway, we all cut where we can and buy what we can afford. Just pointing out that it isn't always as cut and dry as those lists make it, depending on whether you choose organic for health reasons vs. environmental reasons vs. ethical reasons.

I do like those lists of things that aren't too bad to buy conventional in, because in tough economic times, it certainly helps! :)

[tmonroe]

Thanks for this list. IMHO, I can tell the difference in taste in most organic fruits and veggies except for mango. I tried the organics ones when the conventional ones were the same price at Whole Foods. No difference in taste at all but for me, organic apples and carrots are distinctively different in taste than the conventional ones.

[DrSally]

Have you ever had carrots homegrown from someone's garden? Out of this world flavorful!