If there’s a blackberry or strawberry in sight, my toddler grandson will gobble it up and beg for more. Berries are packed with antioxidants, fiber and vitamin C, so his wholesome consuming habits ought to put me, the proud grandmother, in a contented place, proper?
Then why am I so involved?
Because blackberries and strawberries, alongside with the ever-popular blueberries, are listed within the “Dirty Dozen” as a number of the most pesticide-laden produce grown within the United States, in response to the annual 2026 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. The Environmental Working Group, or EWG, a nonprofit well being advocacy group, has produced it since 2004.
The 2026 Dirty Dozen list additionally consists of cherries, apples, pears, grapes, peaches, nectarines, and leafy greens akin to kale and spinach. Over the many years, the order could soar round, however these kid-favorite berries have a tendency to stay within the Dirty Dozen, yr after yr.
There is one brilliant spot: raspberries. Partly as a result of means they’re grown, raspberries aren’t within the 2026 listing. In reality, they rank a lot nearer to EWG’s “Clean Fifteen” group of fruit and veggies with fewest pesticides. (Raspberries got here in at 22 in these rankings.)
The EWG scores calculates its scores from testing accomplished by the US Department of Agriculture. Most of the pesticide ranges discovered by the USDA fall under benchmark levels set by the US Environmental Agency. However, critics, together with the American Academy of Pediatrics, say these ranges are a lot too excessive and fail to handle the well being influence of long-term, cumulative publicity to multiple pesticides.
“Pesticide exposure during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of birth defects, low birth weight and fetal death,” according to the AAP. “Exposure in childhood has been linked to attention and learning problems, as well as cancer.”
Studies present pesticides are additionally related with lower sperm concentrations, heart disease, cancer and an increase in genetic damage in people.
The Alliance for Food and Farming, which represents natural and traditional produce farmers, told NCS that “the mere presence of a residue does not automatically mean something is unsafe. The EPA sets limits on pesticide residues that already include huge safety margins to protect infants and children.”
You can successfully take away many “contact” pesticides that sit on the floor of a fruit or vegetable, mentioned Peng Gao, an assistant professor of environmental well being and exposomics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
However, “systemic” pesticides, that are absorbed by the roots and leaves of a plant, develop into a part of the fruit and can’t be washed off, Gao mentioned in an e mail. So, in the event you’re apprehensive about pesticides, the most effective resolution — in the event you can afford it — is to purchase natural variations of essentially the most pesticide-laden produce, together with berries.
Organic farming prohibits most artificial pesticides, so farmers typically use naturally derived variations akin to minerals and plant extracts. On event, wind and water runoff from neighboring farms utilizing prohibited pesticides can contaminate an natural farm and even result in the lack of the natural license.
Still, studies have proven that when individuals started consuming more natural meals, levels of pesticides of their our bodies decreased up to 95% in days. Feeding a baby natural meals from the beginning, specialists say, may help reduce risk dramatically.
If you may’t afford natural, you may nonetheless scale back ranges of contact pesticides in berries and different produce with a brief soak in your selection of baking soda or vinegar (however not each), in response to an peer-reviewed April report by EWG scientists.
The evaluate analyzed 47 research from all over the world on varied strategies of washing produce, together with faucet water. While that does work, researchers discovered rinsing or soaking in water had the bottom median p.c discount of about 30%.
“Overall, soaking with vinegar or baking soda had the highest median percent reduction — about 50% — across all pesticides and produce,” mentioned Yoshira Ornelas Van Horne, an assistant professor of environmental well being sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, in an e mail. She was not concerned with the evaluate.
Use a teaspoon of baking soda for every 2 cups of water and soak most produce for 5 to 10 minutes. The mildly alkaline resolution created by baking soda helps degrade many contact pesticides on the floor, Gao mentioned.
Berries, nonetheless, could solely require soaking for one to 2 minutes as a result of “the high water content and thin skin of these fruits absorb solutions,” he mentioned. Berries additionally ought to be soaked instantly earlier than consuming, he added, as washing and storing to eat later hastens spoilage.
If you like to make use of vinegar, which not like baking soda may influence style, use 1 half white family vinegar to three or 4 components of water, Gao mentioned. Except berries, most produce may soak for 5 to twenty minutes. Again, solely soak berries for one to 2 minutes.
Next, raise, don’t pour, the produce out of the bowl, leaving the grime on the backside. Rinse nicely below cool operating water. Follow with an instantaneous pat dry to keep away from taste and texture adjustments.
There is more particular pesticide data on every kind of kid-favorite berry, so in the event you’re a apprehensive caregiver like me, learn on.
Kitchen prep tip
- All produce, even natural, ought to be washed earlier than peeling so grime and micro organism aren’t transferred from the knife onto the fruit or vegetable. Produce with exhausting coatings ought to be scrubbed or peeled earlier than consuming, in response to the US Food and Drug Administration.
The latest USDA testing data from 2024 discovered that the 885 samples of nonorganic blackberries contained 4 pesticide residues on common — one pattern had 14 totally different pesticides.
The artificial pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin, which the EPA calls a possible human carcinogen, was detected on almost half of all samples. Another pyrethroid known as bifenthrin, which the EPA says is protected below typical use limits, was discovered on 30% of blackberry samples. Bifenthrin, nonetheless, is a PFAS “forever” pesticide, which brings one more set of health concerns.
Manufactured because the Forties to make merchandise nonstick, stain-resistant and water-repellent, legacy PFAS have been linked to human most cancers, weight problems, thyroid illness, excessive ldl cholesterol, decreased fertility, liver harm, hormone disruption and harm to the immune system, according to the EPA.
Pyrethroid pesticides are recognized to cross the placenta and have been linked to behavioral and attention deficit disorders in youngsters. Cypermethrin disrupts thyroid hormones, that are crucial to mind improvement.
Testing discovered malathion on 14% of blackberry samples. It’s an organophosphate pesticide that interferes with the conventional operate of the nervous system of bugs and other people. The pesticide has been linked to human neurodevelopmental disorders.
However, you are able to do one thing about these pesticides. Malathion and pyrethroids are floor chemical substances that reply nicely to washing, Gao mentioned: “A 30- to 60-second dip in 1% baking soda — 1 teaspoon per 2 cups of cool water — followed by a thorough cool-water rinse and immediate drying on a clean towel is the right household approach.”
Unfortunately, two extremely poisonous systemic chemical substances, methamidophos and acephate, had been discovered on 3% of blackberry samples. Methamidophos is a potent neurotoxin that has been banned within the United States since 2009 however can nonetheless be discovered on imported produce. The EPA is taking similar action on the pesticide acephate, which degrades to methamidophos because it breaks down.
However, USDA testing discovered the 2 chemical substances solely on blackberries imported from Mexico. You can keep away from publicity by shopping for US-grown or natural blackberries, Gao mentioned.
Blueberries current an issue: Of the 2 most prevalent residues, boscalid (on 46% of USDA samples) and acetamiprid (on 36% of samples), each are systemic and due to this fact absorbed into plant tissue, in response to Gao.
“Together, they appear on most blueberry samples — and washing cannot effectively remove them,” he mentioned. “Of the two, acetamiprid is the more concerning from a human-health standpoint.”
Acetamiprid is a neonicotinoid, modeled after nicotine, which was used as rat poison and insecticide as far back as the 1600s. It works by focusing on an insect’s nervous system, inflicting paralysis and demise. Animal research present neurotoxicity to offspring.
In 2024, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) known as for a fivefold reduction in security ranges, dropping the suitable each day consumption from 0.025 to 0.005 milligram per kilogram of physique weight per day. The EPA considers the chemical protected at current safety levels.
Boscalid is a attainable endocrine-disrupting fungicide that the EPA says has “suggestive evidence of carcinogenicity, but not sufficient to assess human carcinogenic potential.” The EFSA is reconsidering boscalid standing as an allowable pesticide.
Contact pesticides discovered on blueberries embrace cypermethrin (23% of samples), the PFAS pesticide bifenthrin (19%) and two organophosphates: phosmet, which targets the immune system, and malathion, which has been linked to most cancers.
Another systemic neonicotinoid, imidacloprid, was discovered on 14% of samples. However present security ranges are sufficient, in response to specialists.
Soak blueberries for an extended interval than blackberries — one to 2 minutes — as blueberries have a more durable outer pores and skin, Gao mentioned. Follow that with an intensive cool-water rinse and dry on a clear towel.
“For families particularly concerned about the acetamiprid signal, the practical options are buying organic or wild lowbush blueberries, which are generally grown with much less spraying than cultivated highbush varieties,” he mentioned.
The USDA testing reviewed by EWG discovered a fungicide known as carbendazim on over 16% of strawberries examined, and bifenthrin, the identical PFAS pyrethroid discovered on blueberries and blackberries, on 29% of samples.
Carbendazim has been banned within the European Union attributable to reproductive and developmental toxicity points and is “among the more concerning compounds on strawberries from a human-health standpoint,” Gao mentioned. The chemical is partly systemic, so whereas the floor fraction will be washed off, the absorbed fraction can’t.
Strawberries are additionally uncovered to further fungicides of concern, Gao mentioned. One is boscalid, the systemic endocrine-disrupting fungicide that the EPA is reevaluating. Another is fludioxonil, a systemic PFAS pesticide added to supply after harvest to cease mould and mildew. The chemical has killed human cells and damaged DNA in laboratory exams.
“The European Food Safety Authority additionally considers fludioxonil to be an endocrine-disrupting chemical that has harmed the reproductive system in animals, report coauthor Varun Subramaniam, a science analyst at EWG, told NCS previously.
A March 2025 investigation by EWG discovered the best ranges of fludioxonil on lemons, at over 1 half per million, adopted by peaches, nectarines, pears, plums, blueberries and apricots. In addition, fludioxonil was discovered on 90% of the examined samples of nectarines, peaches and plums, in response to USDA information.
In response, the EPA advised NCS in a March e mail that “fungicides, like Fludioxonil, keep America’s food supply safe, abundant, and affordable. EPA evaluates every new and existing pesticide with gold-standard science to ensure the products on the market keep Americans and our food supply safe and healthy with no unreasonable risk of harm.”
Baking soda doesn’t chemically degrade fludioxonil and might solely dislodge what’s on the floor of the strawberry, Gao mentioned. Don’t soak strawberries, Gao mentioned. Instead give them a “brief” 30- to 60-second dip in the identical baking soda resolution as different berries, rinse nicely in cool water, and dry instantly.
“Remove the green leafy top after washing, not before,” he mentioned. “Hulling first creates a cut surface where solutions and dissolved residues can be drawn into the flesh.”
When pesticide residues are discovered on raspberries, they are usually from the identical chemistry households — pyrethroids, organophosphates and neonicotinoids — as on different berries, Gao mentioned.
“The key difference is prevalence, not the nature of the compounds: a given residue is just less likely to be there,” he mentioned. “That makes raspberries a reasonable lower-exposure substitute for kids who love berries.”
Wash raspberries utilizing the identical 30- to 60-second temporary dip within the baking soda resolution, a simple rinse below cool water and a cautious pat dry.
Get impressed by a weekly roundup on residing nicely, made easy. Sign up for NCS’s Life, But Better newsletter for data and instruments designed to enhance your well-being.