When Should You Buy Organic?

I was in my neighborhood produce store the other day having a familiar debate with myself over a carton of strawberries. Should I buy the big, red, bright red ones in the main produce section at $1.25 a basket? Or should I splurge on the organic ones for $2.25 for the same small container?

I knew my 8-year-old son, Trevor -- whom we often call a fruitoholic -- could make an entire container disappear in about two minutes flat. Did I really need to spend the extra money for organic? Feeling tight, I picked up a three-pack of the conventional berries and plopped them into my cart.

Bad decision.

It turns out strawberries are among the most likely fruits to contain pesticide residues. And while there's no evidence that sprayed fruit actually causes health problems, it's widely believed that children, with their small and developing bodies, are more vulnerable than adults to chemical contaminants.

When you consider this, organic seems like the only way to go. But it can be hard on the budget. Organically grown produce can be 20 percent to 80 percent more expensive than conventionally produced fruits and vegetables.

So when does it pay to spend extra? The Environmental Working Group, a not-for-profit environmental research organization, offers some help to consumers here. After analyzing more than 100,000 U.S. government pesticide test results, it came up with a report card on produce.

EWG reports the following fruits and vegetables are the most contaminated, meaning it pays to buy organic:

Apples
Bell Peppers
Celery
Cherries
Grapes (imported)
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Potatoes
Red Raspberries
Spinach
Strawberries

These fresh fruits and vegetables consistently have the lowest levels of pesticides, meaning frugal shoppers can get away with conventionally grown varieties:

Asparagus
Avocados
Bananas
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Corn (sweet)
Kiwi
Mangos
Onions
Papaya
Pineapples
Peas (sweet)

The Environmental Working Group has a handy, downloadable wallet guide you can carry to the grocery store at FoodNews.org. A complete list of test results is also available.

I know I'll be taking this list to the store the next time I go shopping. No more pesticide-laced strawberries for my little fruit fanatic.

Image: 5aday

Good info

by Roskopp on May 30, 2006 - 2:06pm

thanks

Organic

by Anonymous on May 31, 2006 - 10:07am

This was very useful information, however there are reasons beyond our immediate health to purchase organic produce. The environmental benefits to buying organic produce are vast and too much for me to go into. Part of my reason for purchasing organic is because of the good it is doing the environment.

Very helpful

by Asuka on May 31, 2006 - 1:52pm

I always knew that strawberries and grapes were pretty high with the contamination of pesticides, but there were some surprising ones that I had no idea about. And even though organic produces are the safest way to go, they cost a pretty penny. But I guess you showed us some alternatives. Thanks!

I sell stawberries

by Anonymous on June 21, 2006 - 1:57am

I sell strawberries for a living at the farmers market, they are conventional stawberries not organic. There is a larger political debate to look at when deciding to support organic. First, most "organic" anything come from giant corporations anyways, look into it. It is important to support local, family farms and to feed your kids the most healthy food possible. Many familiy farms cannot afford to be "certified organic," say they want to use a pesticide once for a pest on a certain part of the farm, then they cannot be organic. Organic produce often has pesticieds all over them, organic pesticieds (chemical compounds). The organic poduce bought in Trader Joes travels thousands of miles aboard fossil fuel consuming, CO2 producing vehicles contributing to climate change and global warming. It is important to be environmental stewards and support ecologically sustainable farming practices, just don't be ignorant. The "organic" issue is huge and it goes deeper than politics. Industrial strawberry production also uses methyl bromide, one of the top cotributers to air pollution, but hundreds of thousands of families world-wide depend on these farming methods for theoir livelyhood, including me. I beg you to look deeper into the issue befor you look at me in disgust for not selling organic produce, thank you.

We agree with you

by telbel on October 3, 2006 - 3:57pm

Take a look at our local vs. organic article, you bring up some really good points.

Supporting Local Produce

by trinity8 on March 5, 2007 - 5:05am

I agree that we should support local farmers and their produce. I also agree that food flown in isn't very environmentally friendly as for the fossil fuel and contribution to climate change. There may be some changes in the future on the labelling of imported food, which will make it harder to identify organics. Read my daughters article http://www.dare2baware.com/article/6106/airfreighted-organics-face-possible-ban-on-organic-labelling

I would love to see more farmers sell organics though as my family and I have nothing else BUT organics. I would be one of the first buying them. Where I live there is a lovely Organic Farm in the middle of nowhere. They sell organics and their produce is gorgeous. They also have very unusual vegetables at times which they buy in. Every single animal they have runs free wherever it wants to go. The eggs they sell they collect fresh every time.

I would find it impossible not to have organic food!!!

organic fruit and vegtables

by sistersue013 on January 17, 2008 - 12:18am

Thank you for the recommendation on which fruit and vegtables to buy organic. But what about Carrots???? I have just started volunteering at a local organic cafe and I just bought a juicer. But the one vegtable that I need to know about is carrots. Should carrots be organic?? I was surprised carrots were not on either list. I would appreciate more info.

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