These fruits and vegetables must be washed before eating.

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        Some foods are full of pesticides when they arrive in your cart. Here are 12 fruits and vegetables you should always wash before eating.
        Fresh fruits and vitamin-rich vegetables may be the healthiest foods on your plate. But the dirty little secret of the products is that they often come coated in pesticides, and some varieties are more likely to contain these chemicals than others.
        To help distinguish the dirtiest foods from the not-so-bad ones, the nonprofit Environmental Food Safety Working Group has published a list of foods that are most likely to contain pesticides. It’s called the Dirty Dozen, and it’s a cheat sheet on how to wash fruits and vegetables regularly.
        The team analyzed 46,569 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables that were tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. What is the main pesticide culprit in the team’s latest study? strawberry. In a comprehensive analysis, more chemicals were found in this popular berry than in any other fruit or vegetable.
        In general, foods without natural casings or edible peels, such as apples, vegetables and berries, are more likely to contain pesticides. Foods that are usually peeled, such as avocados and pineapples, are less likely to become contaminated. Below you’ll find 12 foods that are most likely to contain pesticides and 15 foods that are least likely to be contaminated.
        The Dirty Dozen is a good indicator to alert consumers to those fruits and vegetables that need the most cleaning. Even a quick rinse with water or a spray of cleaner can help.
        You can also avoid most of the potential risk by purchasing certified organic, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables. Knowing which foods are more likely to contain pesticides can help you decide where to spend your extra money on organic foods. As I learned from analyzing the prices of organic and non-organic foods, they are not as expensive as you think.
       Products with natural protective coatings are much less likely to contain potentially harmful pesticides.
        The EWG methodology includes six indicators of pesticide pollution. The analysis focused on which fruits and vegetables were most likely to contain one or more pesticides, but did not measure levels of any one pesticide in specific foods. You can read more about EWG’s Dirty Dozen in the study published here.