The Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen

Each year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) comes out with the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Included in this guide are the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean Fifteen.”  The “Dirty Dozen” is the EWG’s user guide to the top 12 conventionally grown produce items that carry the highest levels of pesticide residue, whereas the “Clean Fifteen” are the 15 conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that carry the least amount of pesticides [1]. Every year when these lists are published, nutrition influencers, health care practitioners, and science communicators focus their attention on it: depending on the individual in question, this attention can be favorable or unfavorable. At first glance, the EWG’s lists seem like a great way to make an educated purchase in the produce section. For those wanting to avoid excess pesticide residue on their food, it appears that these lists make organic or conventional produce selection more straightforward. However, that potential benefit relies on the assumption that the EWG is engaging in good quality science. Unfortunately, the EWG’s methodology lacks scientific credibility, resulting in nutrition misinformation and unwarranted fear-mongering of healthy foods. 

A pesticide is defined as “any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest” [3]. Pesticides are used in agriculture to preserve the growth of crops and to produce large quantities of produce without the threat of crop death. Without pesticides, the yield of food would be heavily affected, and it would not be possible to feed the billions of people in the world [2]. Therefore, a certain level of pesticide use is justified when growing crops. What matters in terms of human health is the level of pesticide use and their regulation for safety.  

When determining what produce makes the list, the EWG “analyzes pesticide residue data for tens of thousands of samples that the Department of Agriculture collects through its Pesticide Data Program” [1]. They base their rankings on four factors: percent of samples with at least one pesticide detected, average number of different pesticides detected on a single sample, average total concentration of pesticides found on a single sample, and overall toxicity of pesticides on a crop [1]. The overall toxicity is calculated based on the concentration of pesticide compared to the NOAEL value (the highest dose of pesticide with no harmful effects). This metric was incorporated in 2025; in previous years, the EWG would only rank produce based on the presence of pesticides, not the concentration, which completely ignores the basic principles of toxicology. 

Although the EWG has updated its testing methods, it still does not base its conclusions on scientific research. The amount of pesticides truly present in the levels of fruits and vegetables someone eats per day is so small that it would be almost impossible to eat enough of a product to experience harmful effects [4]. Therefore, although the EWG lists out the top 12 produce with the highest “toxicity” threat, there is no actual threat to human health. Any compound on earth can be toxic- it’s the dose that makes the poison. Even water is deadly at a certain dose. What matters is whether or not the produce surpasses the pesticide residue safety limits. In the case of the fruits and vegetables tested by the EWG, none of them do. 

The EWG is funded by organic agriculture organizations. Thus, pushing consumers to buy more organic produce is in their best financial interest. Choosing to buy organic is a personal choice, but the research does not suggest that it is superior to conventional produce [5]. The real threat comes from simply not eating enough fruits and vegetables to begin with. Not eating your fruits and vegetables poses a much higher risk than the pesticide concentration on conventional produce could ever pose. Therefore, get your fruits and veggies, and eat a large variety with different colors.

Sources

[1] Group, Environmental Working. “EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in ProduceTM.” www.ewg.org/foodnews/methodology.php.

[2] Love, A. “The EWG’s “Dirty Dozen” List Is a Danger to Public Health.” Immunologic.org, ImmunoLogic , 25 Feb. 2024, news.immunologic.org/p/the-ewgs-dirty-dozen-list-is-a-danger. 

[3] US EPA. “What Is a Pesticide? | US EPA.” US EPA, 19 Feb. 2019, www.epa.gov/minimum-risk-pesticides/what-pesticide.

[4] “What Is the “Dirty Dozen”? And Should You Be Worried about It? | Facts about the Dirty Dozen Produce List.” What Is the “Dirty Dozen”? And Should You Be Worried about It? | Facts about the Dirty Dozen Produce List , 2023, www.uaex.uada.edu/farm-ranch/crops-commercial-horticulture/horticulture/ar-fruit-veg-nut-update-blog/posts/dirtydozen.aspx.

[5] Thaise de Oliveira Faoro, D., Artuzo, F. D., Rossi Borges, J. A., Foguesatto, C. R., Dewes, H., & Talamini, E. (2024). Are organics more nutritious than conventional foods? A comprehensive systematic review. Heliyon, 10(7), e28288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28288