I have just finished reading a very interesting book,To Buy or Not to Buy Organic, by Cindy Burke. It is very educational and, at times, alarming, akin to the movie Food, Inc. in that way.
What I found most interesting and useful about this book is
the listings of vegetables and fruit according to whether they should only be eaten organic, or if non-organic is okay.
The “eat only if organic” listing consists of vegetables and
fruit which, if non-organic, are likely to have high levels of chemical residue from pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, etc.
EAT ONLY IF ORGANIC
Apples |
Grapes from Chile |
Potatoes |
Bell Peppers, red, green |
Nectarines |
Raspberries |
Celery |
Peaches |
Spinach |
Cherries |
Pears |
Strawberries |
Burke also lists fifteen vegetables and fruit which, even when non-organically grown, are unlikely to be contaminated by chemicals.
OKAY TO EAT NON-ORGANIC
Asparagus |
Cabbage |
Papayas |
Avocados |
Garlic |
Pineapples |
Bananas |
Kiwi |
Shelling peas |
Blueberries |
Mangos |
Sweet Corn |
Broccoli |
Onions |
Watermelon, grown domestically (US) |
At the end of the book, there is also a very useful comprehensible listing of vegetables, herbs and spices, and fruit, marked
according to whether the item should be eaten only organic, or if it is okay to eat non-organic.