the nonprofit organization attempts to raise awareness about pollutants and dangerous chemicals apples a staple in many refrigerators topped the list with 98 percent testing positive for a pesticide and 92 percent testing positive for two or more pesticides and when you bring your produce home you have a job to do too blake said potatoes 10 the importance of washing produce before eating or cooking it was driven home today by the release of a dirty dozen list of fruits and vegetables that tested positive for the highest concentration of pesticides kiwi 11 sweet peas 7 watermelon 13 june 13 2011151 you know you should eat your fruits and vegetables but with a dirty dozen list of pesticidecontaminated produce out today and the recent ecoli outbreak linked to supposedly safer organic produce whats a wouldbe healthy eater to do coming in second was celery with more than 95 percent testing positive for at least one pesticide grapefruit 15 mangoes 8 apples 2 if its a choice between an apple and potato chips choose the apple he said pesticides which are regulated by the environmental protection agency are used to protect produce from bugs and also extend its supermarket shelf life mushrooms the food and drug administration offers several tips for cleaning both fresh and organic produce including everyone has a job to do from the farmer to the person taking the produce to the store to the people selling the produce avocado 5 pineapples 4 sweet bell peppers 9 cabbage 12 onions 2 a portion of americans do worry and choose to buy organic produce which has long trumpeted itself as a healthier albeit costlier alternative peaches 5 blueberries domestic 11 according to joan salge blake a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the american dietetic association the answer is simple eat your fruits and vegetables whether theyre organic or not celery 3 the ewgs dirty dozen 1 however after a deadly ecoli outbreak linked to organic sprouts recently killed 36 and sickened 3000 in germany is going organic really any safer kalecollard greens the ewgs clean 15 1 lettuce 12 the environmental working group agrees that eating from the dirty dozen is better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all but suggested that when possible these items should be bought organic sweet corn 3 the answer from health experts and even the people who did the study on pesticide residue in produce is still the same eat those fruits and vegetables but get them as clean as you can pesticides are toxic they are designed to kill things and most are not good for you said sonya lunder senior analyst at the environmental working group which released the study eggplants 9 strawberries 4 i dont want people being afraid of eating mother natures finest she said but even though some pesticides were still found on the produce after they were washed and peeled formuzis said the benefits of fruits and vegetables still outweigh