The 12 Most Important Organic Foods
Do you ever wonder how you can keep up with buying everything organic? Could be from a cost perspective, or just finding what’s available or in-season. Here is a list of the 12 most important organic foods to buy - avoid their conventionally grown counterparts.
Beef: the Environmental Protection Agency says that “meat contains higher levels of pesticides than any of the plant foods.” Pesticides end up in the environment, then in the animal, and then in you. Eating organic beef — although I don’t eat meat — is the best way to safeguard against ingesting those pesticides.
Milk: The fat in dairy products is another haven for pesticides, antibiotics, and bovine growth hormones. These get passed on to you through commercial milk, cheese, and butter. Organic dairies do not use chemicals or growth hormones like rGBH or rbST.
Coffee: Most beans you buy are grown in countries that don’t regulate the use of chemicals and pesticides. Look for a Fair Trade Certified label when buying coffee; it can assure you that chemicals and pesticides were not used on the plants. Plus it means that fair prices were paid for the end product in support of the farm that supplied the coffee, and that the farm workers are treated fairly. Peet’s offers a Fair Trade Blend, which is truly rich and deep.
Strawberries: One of the heaviest sprayed fruits. On average, they receive a dose of up to 500 pounds of pesticides per acre. Buying strawberries out of season means they’re most likely imported from countries that use less-than-stringent regulations for pesticide use.
Apples: Scrubbing and peeling a fruit isn’t completely effective in eliminating chemical residue so it’s best to buy organic when it comes to apples. Organic apples also taste sweeter than those grown conventionally.
Peaches: Important fact - forty-five different pesticides are regularly applied to these delicately skinned fruits in conventional orchards.
Bell Peppers: Peppers have thin skins that don’t offer much of a barrier to pesticides. They’re one of the most heavily sprayed vegetables out there and may be coated with nearly 40 commonly used pesticides meant to keep them insect-free.
Celery: Celery has no protective skin, and is sprayed with up to twenty-nine different chemicals. Pesticides used on conventional crops are almost impossible to wash off.
Lettuces: Leafy greens are frequently contaminated with what are considered the most potent pesticides used on food. That would also include chard and kale.
Grapes: Imported grapes run a much greater risk of contamination than those grown domestically. Vineyards can be sprayed with 35 different pesticides during different growth periods during the season and no amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination because of the grape’s permeable thin skin.
Potatoes: Although one of America’s most popular foods, potatoes rank highest for pesticide residue. They may also be tainted by fungicides added to the soil for growing.
Tomatoes: The standard regimen of pesticides used on conventionally raised tomatoes numbers 30. Their easily punctured skins are no match for chemicals that will eventually permeate the whole tomato.
[...] admin added an interesting post today on The 12 Most Important Organic Foods [...]
Nice site. Lots of good articles with real “meat.”
We raise grassfed organic beef. I wanted to warn folks reading this post to be careful to not purchase “natural” beef thinking that you are getting the same thing as organic (I’ve had many folks behind the butcher counter tell me there is no difference). Feed for “natural” beef is raised using pesticides and herbicides. Most “natural” beef are finished in a feedlot. The cattle themselves are treated with powerful pesticides to kill internal and external parasities.
Organic beef may be hard to find in your local grocery stores, but there are a number of producers that ship. (You can do a search-but be careful because some companies will pop up on the paid links for the term “organic beef” when they do not produce organic beef at all–and their website doesn’t clearly disclaim the fact. Look for the USDA organic seal or text that clearly specifies that the beef is organic). One can also sometimes find local producers by using the search function on localharvest.com. If you are looking for grassfed organic beef, you can sometimes find someone nearby on eatwild.com (a site devoted to grass-based agriculture).
Good luck sourcing good food!
[...] 10 Foods You Don’t Have to Buy Organic Posted in January 29th, 2008 by admin in Organics Going 100% organic can be both expensive and a challenge to maintain. One solution? Choose from the following list of 10 Foods You Don’t Have to Buy Organic below. These are conventionally grown foods that retain the least amount of pesticide residue. Save your organic dollars for those foods that are treated with the highest amounts of pesticides, chemicals and hormones. [...]
[...] The 12 Most Important Organic Foods [...]
Hi,great information!! It’s really very nice information on organic foods. organic foods are fast becoming popular. Recent surveys indicate that the demand is so strong that supply is just not able to keep up with it.
[...] a month back, I posted the 12 Most Important Organic Foods. So, it looks like my list isn’t too far off of this, the definitive, list of risky to safe [...]