Consumer Reports, (February 2006): which organic foods are your best buy

Buy these items organic as often as possible:

§ Apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries. Even after washing some fruits and vegetables consistently carry much higher levels of pesticide residue than others. Researchers at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) have developed the "dirty dozen" fruits and vegetables which are listed, that they say you should always buy organic if possible because their conventionally grown counterparts tend to be laden with pesticides. Among the fruits, nectarines had the highest percentage - testing positive for pesticide residue. Peaches and red raspberries had the most pesticides on a single sample. Among the vegetables, celery and spinach most often carried pesticides with spinach having the highest number on a single sample. (For more information on pesticide levels for other types of produce, go to www.foodnews.org.)

§ Meat, poultry, eggs and dairy. By purchasing organic products, you greatly reduce the risk of exposure to the agent believed to cause mad cow disease and minimize exposure to other potential toxins in non-organic feed. You also avoid the results of production methods that use daily supplemental hormones and antibiotics, which have beenlinked to increased antibacterial resistance in humans.

Buy these items organic if price is no object:

§ Asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples and sweet peas. Multiple pesticide residues are, in general, rarely found on conventionally grown versions of these fruits and vegetables, according to researchby the EWG.

§ Breads, oils, potato chips, pasta, cereals, and other packaged foods, such as canned or dried fruit and vegetables. Although these processed products may have lower levels of contaminants in them, they offer limited health value because processing tends to wash away important nutrients. The more a food is processed, the less health value its organic version offers, especially in products such as cereals and pastas with levels that say "made with organic ingredients." Read the list of ingredients and you might find that while the flour is organic, the eggs aren’'t. The processed foods withthe most added value are labeled "100% Organic" and "USDA organic".

Don’'t bother buying these items organic:

§ Seafood. Whether caught in the wild or farmed, fish can be labeled organic, despite the presence of contaminants such as mercury. The USDA has not yet developed organic standards for seafood.

§ Cosmetics. Unless a personal-care product consists primarily of organic agricultural ingredients, such as aloe vera gel, it'’s pointless to buy organic.

Picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_produce