Latest Report on the "Dirty Dozen" from EWG, in Time for Summer Harvests
#57 2025 The Rowen Report
Dear Subscriber,
There has been a subtle revision to the EWG (environmental Working Group) list of the most poisoned American produce. Spinach has replaced strawberries as the most poisoned, gram for gram. How sad. These each are an example of one of the most nutritious in their class. But to reap the benefits of all the wonderful phytochemicals/nutrients in these, you have to swim through pesticides, aka, poison.
Let’s run through the list with the cleanest first. These are listed in order from the cleanest to the worst:
The Clean 15.
Pineapple, sweet corn (fresh and frozen), avocados, papaya, onion, sweet peas (frozen) asparagus, cabbage, watermelon, cauliflower, bananas, mangoes, carrots, mushrooms kiwi.
The middle group:
Broccoli, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, snap peas, eggplant, grapefruit, oranges, raspberries, summer squash, tomatillos, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, plums, winter squash, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, tangerines, green beans, bell and hot peppers
Now the “Dirty Dozen”:
Potatoes, blueberries, blackberries, apples, pears, nectarines, cherries, peaches, grapes, kale/collard/mustard greens, strawberries, spinach.
EWG took data from the USDA to get this valuable information to you. I will admit that we don’t always buy organic avocados, and also not pineapples, which we don’t eat often. We do eat a lot on the clean 15 but still purchase organic.
I grow a lot in the middle group, and will always buy them organic. Please pay attention to the dirty dozen. We fortunately grow most of these. Getting a decent crop of strawberries this summer, and, organic, of course (not certified as not selling). Potatoes are the most consumed plant crop in the country. Note – they are among the most contaminated. Most of these in the dirty dozen will have multiple chemical residues. Please get them only as organic. Remember, the list above goes from the least contaminated to the most, even while not numbered.
It is summer and time to enjoy the bountiful harvest we have in America. Sadly, the price the average person pays is ingestion of highly toxic chemicals.
Source: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php
To Your Excellent Health!
Robert Jay Rowen
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The email address for The Rowen Report is rrowen@DrRowenDrSu.com. Please email us there about your experience with the product. Thank you.
Mangoes are my favorite fruit, and fortunately they're in the clean 15. Problem is it's hard to get decent mangoes in the United States because almost all of them are imported and they pick them too earlier and they cool them too early and too long which stops them from properly ripenening, even when they're warmed up again, a lot of the time. Sometimes I can get them from a friend who has a tree in their yard. From 1984 to 2009 I lived in a house that had a large mango tree in the backyard, so depending on the crop that year I had mangoes available. It was a Haden mango tree, the first variety cultivated in Florida from which numerous other varieties are derived, either through hybrids or a seed. In my opinion the Hayden has the best flavor when it comes out right. Kent and Keitt, related to the Haden, are also very good and close in flavor. Unfortunately, the Haden mango is prone to jelly seed, where it starts getting mushy and overipe around the seed first. It seems as the tree got older it was more prone to that. I also like nectarines, and plums, if I can find plums that ripen correctly, but they seem to be in the dirty group; watermelon is another one I like, which is in the clean group. I also like USA honeydew in season--King of the West brand is the best. Honeydew isn't on the list but I assume they'd be similar to cantaloupes, near the top of the middle group. I do you eat blueberries if they are sweet and crispy enough. I didn't realize they were so contaminated. They have organic ones but they don't necessarily taste better. I don't eat grapes or cherries very often.
https://open.substack.com/pub/immunologic/p/the-dirty-dozen-undermines-trust?r=emq3b&utm_medium=ios