EWG’s 2025 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™
By EWG Science Team
JUNE 11, 2025
Top three takeaways
- Almost 60 percent of samples for all Clean Fifteen™ fruits and vegetables had no detectable pesticide residues.
- Nearly all samples of produce on the Dirty Dozen™ had pesticide residues, including new entries potatoes and blackberries.
- EWG updated the guide’s ranking methodology to include the toxicity of pesticides detected on fruits and vegetables.
Overview
Eating fruit and vegetables is essential for a healthy diet. Ranking the produce with the most and least pesticide residues, EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ helps consumers know more about what they buy and eat.
Peer-reviewed science shows that pesticides are harmful to health, including disruption of the hormone system and developmental harms. This year’s guide not only looks at the number, presence and amount of pesticides on produce but also considers their toxicity, or their ability to cause harm, as observed in animal studies.
EWG’s analysis of Agriculture Department produce samples finds just over 75 percent of non-organic fruits and vegetables had pesticide residues.
When accessible, organic produce can be a good choice for reducing pesticide exposure, since numerous studies have shown a diet high in organic food is associated with lower exposure to synthetic pesticides. But even some non-organic, or conventional, produce can have no detectable pesticide residue.
The guide’s Clean Fifteen™ highlights produce with the least pesticides, with cauliflower (10th) and bananas (11th) joining the list this year. Bananas were among the produce with the lowest overall pesticide toxicity.
Almost 60 percent of samples on the Clean Fifteen had no detectable pesticide residues. Fewer pesticides were detected and at lower amounts relative to the toxicity of the substances, than the detections on fruits and vegetables that make up the Dirty Dozen™.
More than 95 percent of all the conventionally grown samples of the produce on the Dirty Dozen contained pesticides. Potatoes join the list this year in 12th place, along with blackberries, in 10th place, based on first-time USDA testing data for the berries.
A total of 93 percent of blackberry samples had detectable pesticides, with an average per sample of four pesticides – a combination of fungicides and insecticides.
New data were also available for potatoes, nearly 90 percent of which contain an agricultural chemical, chlorpropham, applied after harvest to prevent sprouting. The European Union ended its approval of chlorpropham in 2019, following a 2017 assessment that found risks to consumers and workers from its use and presence on food, primarily potatoes.
Understanding the Shopper’s Guide rankings
EWG assessed data from pesticide residue tests conducted by the USDA on 53,692 samples of 47 fruits and vegetables. Before they’re tested, the produce samples are peeled or scrubbed and washed. Even after this preparation, the tests found traces of 265 pesticides and their breakdown products on all fruit and vegetables tested, of which 203 were on Dirty Dozen produce.
EWG ranks the fruit and vegetables on the Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen based on four factors. As a major update to the methodology this year, EWG added a factor for pesticide toxicity to the rankings, along with the number, presence and amount of pesticides on produce. For more details about how EWG develops the Shopper's Guide, see the methodology.
Shoppers who want to reduce their exposure to pesticides can consider purchasing organic versions of produce on the Dirty Dozen, when possible. It doesn’t have to be in the fresh produce part of a store. Frozen options are often available and more affordable.
For all kinds of produce, washing at home before eating reduces pesticide residues, dirt and potentially harmful bacteria. Washing does not remove pesticides entirely, but data show that unwashed produce contains higher pesticide levels than washed produce.
Most people don’t eat enough produce. USDA dietary guidelines recommend fruits and vegetables make up half of a plate at each meal, or a few cups daily, depending on calorie needs. The Shopper’s Guide provides an easy checklist for buying fruits and vegetables, so consumers can make more informed choices.
EWG’S 2025 CLEAN FIFTEEN
These 15 types of produce had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues of all 47 types sampled, according to EWG’s analysis of the most recent USDA data.
- Pineapple
- Sweet corn (fresh and frozen)
- Avocados
- Papaya
- Onions
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Asparagus
- Cabbage
- Watermelon
- Cauliflower
- Bananas
- Mangoes
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
- Kiwi
Clean Fifteen highlights:
- Almost 60 percent of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues.
- Just 16 percent of Clean Fifteen samples had residues of two or more pesticides.
- Avocado, papaya, pineapples, onion and sweet corn are among the fruit and vegetables with the lowest rankings, including overall toxicity.
- No sample from the top six Clean Fifteen items had residues of more than three pesticides.
- Bananas, new to the Clean Fifteen, were among the fruits and vegetables with lowest overall pesticide toxicity.
See the full list of all Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
EWG’S 2025 DIRTY DOZEN
Of the 47 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides. “Plus” (+) items were also included because of their place two crops below the dozen on the list, and they also ranked highly just based on overall pesticide toxicity.
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- Kale, collard and mustard greens
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Nectarines
- Pears
- Apples
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
-
Potatoes
+Bell and hot peppers
+Green beans
- A total of 203 pesticides were found on the Dirty Dozen, with samples of all types of produce – except cherries – showing over 50 pesticides.
- Pesticides were found on 96 percent of samples of all 12 types of produce.
- Every item, except potatoes, had on average four or more pesticides detected on individual samples. Potatoes had two, on average.
- Topping the list on the basis of the level and toxicity of detected pesticides were green beans, spinach, bell and hot peppers, kale, collard and mustard greens.
See the full list of all 2025 Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
Why pesticide residues are found on produce
Many pesticides are still found on much of the national fruit and vegetable supply, consumed by millions of people in the U.S. every day, and most of these pesticides are not routinely monitored in the U.S. population.
These chemicals are used when growing produce or after it’s harvested, and can remain on items when they’re sold. This includes fungicides like pyrimethanil and fludioxonil, which may be linked to hormone disruption, as well as pyrethroids like permethrin and cypermethrin, which recent studies in people have linked to harm to the developing nervous system.
Also detected are neonicotinoids such as acetamiprid and imidacloprid, insecticides once thought to be a less-toxic alternative to harmful organophosphates. But emerging evidence suggests they may harm the nervous and reproductive systems.
Levels of organophosphate insecticides on fruit and vegetables are decreasing, according to the latest data. But USDA tests of green beans from 2021-2022 revealed the presence of acephate in green beans, despite its being banned in 2011. They can also be found on crops like blueberries and blackberries.
When regulators consider health harms from pesticide exposure, they assess the substances one at a time. But that likely underestimates health concerns. Because the produce people eat regularly may be contaminated with hundreds of pesticides, they’re exposed to a mix of pesticides with varying toxicities. Animal studies show that exposure to mixtures of pesticides can be more toxic than to one pesticide at a time.
In many cases, long-term study of pesticides’ health effects has revealed that levels of exposure previously considered safe were in fact set too high.
In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency canceled all uses of the herbicide DCPA, sold under the brand name Dacthal. It did so after the manufacturer submitted data to the agency – a decade after the EPA requested it – showing even low levels of exposure altered the amount of thyroid hormone to which the developing fetus was exposed. Low levels of thyroid hormone during development can cause irreversible harm.
The pesticide chlorpyrifos is another example of shifting safety levels. In 2016, the EPA based safe levels of exposure to the insecticide on epidemiological studies of neurodevelopmental damage in children. The agency found the level needed to protect health was far lower than previous and current assessments by the agency, which based exposure limits on harm shown in animal studies.
Health risks from pesticides
Consumers have a right to know the types and amounts of pesticides on produce, given their potential health harms, as reported in peer-reviewed scientific studies.
Studies have found that consuming fruit and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues may reduce protection against cardiovascular disease and mortality typically associated with eating produce.
Similar research has investigated how pesticide exposure through fruit and vegetable consumption affects fertility. One study observed some evidence of a link between consumption of produce low in pesticide residue and improved sperm quality. Another reported a link between produce high in pesticide residues and reduced ovarian function.
A large population study in France from 2014-2020 found associations between certain mixtures of pesticides and increased risk of breast cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
In both studies, a diet low in synthetic pesticide exposure was linked to reduced risks of the identified health problems.
These findings raise important questions about risks from exposure to pesticide mixtures on produce, as someone could be exposed to several substances, depending on what they eat.
EWG is especially concerned about how pesticides can harm children’s health as a result of exposure during pregnancy and early life. In 2020, an EWG investigation published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health found that the EPA has failed to adequately protect children from pesticides’ harmful effects.
The agency has neglected to apply a children’s health safety factor to the allowable exposure limits for almost 90 percent of the most common pesticides. The Food Quality Protection Act mandates that EPA use the factor, which could potentially result in some stricter limits.
The threats pesticides pose to children’s health have been known at least since 1993, when the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine published a landmark study warning of inadequate oversight of pesticides in the food infants and children eat.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents concerned about their children’s exposure to pesticides consult EWG’s Shopper’s Guide.
Despite these concerns, the guide should not deter people from buying produce. A diet that is high in fruit and vegetables, whether conventional or organic, is important for health.
About EWG’s Shopper’s Guide
EWG has published the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce almost every year since 2004.
It’s a suite of materials investigating the presence of pesticides in foods and helps consumers find ways to reduce exposure to pesticides while consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables.
It includes two lists, the first is the Clean Fifteen, the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables with very low or no traces of pesticides. The second is the Dirty Dozen, or the 12 fresh non-organic fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues.
Some pesticides have more data linking them to health concerns than others. These pesticides are particularly concerning for children. The brain and nervous systems, as well as other physiological systems of young children are far from fully developed and are especially sensitive to disruption and damage from industrial chemicals, including pesticides.
The presence of so many different pesticides in foods is also also concerning from a public health standpoint. When regulating pesticides, government bodies consider them only one at a time without considering the potential total body burden for consumers. There’s little available data about how multiple pesticides interact with each other in the body or how such mixtures could compound each chemical’s individual potential health harms. But the data we do have, primarily from animal studies, suggests that when chemicals are present in a mixture, they can be more toxic combined than individually.
More information
Here are more resources from EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce:
