EWG’s 2026 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™
By EWG Science Team
MARCH 24, 2026
Top takeaways
- Almost 60% 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.
- The most frequently detected pesticide across all fruits and vegetables is a “forever chemical” PFAS pesticide.
- Three of the top 10 most frequently detected pesticides are PFAS pesticides.
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, to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption, while lowering their pesticide exposure.
Most people don’t eat enough produce. Agriculture Department dietary guidelines have long recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, or about half a plate of produce at each meal, depending on calorie needs. The Shopper’s Guide provides a checklist for consumers to make more informed choices buying fruits and vegetables.
Peer-reviewed science shows that pesticides can be harmful to health, including by disrupting the hormone and reproductive systems and harming the nervous system, especially during development and early life. The guide’s methodology 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 annual analysis of USDA data finds 75% of non-organic fruit and vegetable samples had pesticide residues. Pesticides were detected on all produce types, though in varying frequencies and concentrations.
This year’s analysis also shines a light on the use and potential exposure to PFAS pesticides, a group of pesticides that meet the internationally recognized definition for PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” The most frequently detected pesticides on all fruits and vegetables, and three of the 10 most frequently detected pesticides, are PFAS pesticides.
Fludioxonil, a fungicide that is also identified as a PFAS, was the most frequently detected pesticide overall, found in 14% of all produce samples. Its presence was especially concentrated in certain types of fruit, showing up in nearly 90% of peaches and plums.
Two other PFAS pesticides, fluopyram and bifenthrin, were among the 10 most frequently detected crop chemicals. Fluopyram was found in 8% of samples, and bifenthrin appeared in 7%. Fluopyram was detected most often on grapes, and bifenthrin was more commonly found on blackberries.
Significant research gaps remain when it comes to PFAS pesticides. Scientists are still figuring out how toxic these chemicals may be, particularly in real-world conditions, such as exposure to mixtures of multiple pesticides at once rather than single chemicals in isolation.
Better understanding of PFAS in general suggests PFAS pesticides should get greater regulatory and scientific scrutiny.
The specific qualities that merit this scrutiny include:
- their persistence in the environment
- rising levels of ultra-short-chain PFAS, such as trifluoroacetic acid, or TFA, in people and the environment
- the lack of comprehensive tests for pesticide toxicity, especially for immunotoxicity.
Research does flag some early concerns about PFAS pesticides. For example, recent studies flag emerging concerns about the reproductive toxicity and immunotoxicity of TFA, a possible degradation product of many PFAS pesticides.
More on pesticide residues
When accessible, organic produce is often a good way to reduce pesticide exposure, since many studies have connected a diet high in organic food with lower exposure to synthetic pesticides. But even some non-organic, or conventionally grown, produce can have minimal pesticide residue.
Washing all produce types, organic or conventional, is recommended for food safety and lower pesticide levels.
The Shopper’s Guide’s Clean Fifteen™ highlights produce with the fewest pesticides, and this year pineapple, sweet corn and avocado top the list. Papaya and onions were among the types of produce with the lowest overall pesticide toxicity.
Almost 60% 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 in the fruit and vegetables on the Dirty Dozen™.
More than 95% of conventional samples of Dirty Dozen produce contained pesticides. Blackberries remain on the list in ninth place, based on first-time testing data from the USDA that began in 2023.
A total of 91% of blackberry samples had detectable pesticides, with an average per sample of more than four pesticides, a combination of fungicides and insecticides.
New data were also available for potatoes. Ninety percent contain an agricultural chemical, chlorpropham, which is 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, mostly potatoes.
Understanding the Shopper’s Guide rankings
EWG assessed data from pesticide residue tests conducted by the USDA on 54,344 samples of 47 fruits and vegetables.
Before they’re tested, the samples are peeled or scrubbed then washed. Even after this preparation, the tests found traces of 264 pesticides and their breakdown products. Of those, 203 appeared on Dirty Dozen produce.
EWG considers four factors when we rank the 47 fruits and vegetables included in the Shopper’s Guide. In a major update to the methodology, in 2025, we added to the rankings a factor for pesticide toxicity, 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.
EWG scientists published details of this methodology in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health in 2025. The study linked higher levels of pesticides in the body with consumption of fruit and vegetables containing greater pesticide residue.
Shoppers who want to reduce their exposure to pesticides can consider buying organic versions of produce on the Dirty Dozen, when possible.
The produce you choose doesn’t have to be located in the fresh produce section of a store. Frozen options are often available and more affordable.
Washing your produce before you eat it is a good idea, whatever kind of produce you’re eating. It lowers pesticide residues, dirt and potentially harmful bacteria. Washing does not remove pesticides entirely, but several controlled studies show that unwashed produce contains higher pesticide levels than washed produce.
EWG’S 2026 CLEAN FIFTEEN
These 15 types of produce had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues of all 47 types of produce 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
- Cauliflower
- Watermelon
- Mangoes
- Bananas
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
- Kiwi
Clean Fifteen highlights
- Almost 60% of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues.
- Just 16% of Clean Fifteen samples had residues of two or more pesticides.
- Pineapple, papaya, avocado, sweet corn and onion are among the fruit and vegetables with the lowest rankings, including overall toxicity.
- No sample from the top four Clean Fifteen items had residues of more than three pesticides.
See the full list of all Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
EWG’S 2026 DIRTY DOZEN
Of the 47 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides.
We included green beans and peppers because of their place just below the list – they also ranked high on overall pesticide toxicity, one of four indicators in EWG’s methodology.
- Spinach
- Kale, collard and mustard greens
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Apples
- Blackberries
- Pears
- Potatoes
- Blueberries
+Bell and hot peppers
Dirty Dozen highlights
- A total of 203 pesticides were found on the Dirty Dozen
- Pesticides were found on 96% of samples of all 12 types of produce.
- PFAS pesticides were detected on 63% of all Dirty Dozen produce samples.
- Every type of produce, 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, and kale, collard and mustard greens.
See the full list of all 2026 Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
Why pesticide residues are found on produce
Many pesticides, including PFAS pesticides, remain widespread in the nation’s fruit and vegetable supply, consumed by millions of people in the U.S. every day. Yet most of these pesticides are not routinely monitored in the U.S. population, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of exposure and the extent of the resulting health consequences.
These chemicals are used to grow produce, or after it’s harvested, and can remain on items when they’re sold. This includes fungicides like pyrimethanil and fludioxonil, which are linked to hormone disruption. It also includes pyrethroids like permethrin and cypermethrin, which recent studies in people have linked to harm to the developing nervous system.
Neonicotinoids such as acetamiprid and imidacloprid have also been detected. They are 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 a 2011 ban. Organophosphate insecticides can also be found on crops like blueberries and, according to the most recent data, blackberries imported from Mexico.
When regulators consider health harms from pesticide exposure, they assess the substances one at a time. But that approach 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 exposure to one pesticide at a time.
In many cases, long-term study of pesticides’ health effects has shown that levels of exposure once considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency were in fact set too high.
In 2024, the EPA 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 that even low levels of exposure altered the amount of thyroid hormone to which the developing fetus was exposed. Even low levels of thyroid hormone during development can cause irreversible harm.
The insecticide chlorpyrifos is another clear example of how pesticide “safety” levels can shift, depending on the science the EPA relies on.
In 2016 the EPA based safe levels of chlorpyrifos exposure on epidemiological studies of neurodevelopmental damage in children. The agency found the level needed to protect health was far lower than its previous and current assessments, which based exposure limits on harm shown in animal studies.
Had the agency adopted the lower, health-protective threshold, all food uses of chlorpyrifos would likely have been banned. But because it adopted the higher safety threshold, the EPA continues to allow some uses of the pesticide, including on 11 food crops.
Risks to health from pesticide exposure
Consumers have a right to know the types and amounts of pesticides on produce, given the potential health harms from exposure through consumption. Ample numbers of peer-reviewed scientific studies show that connection.
Studies have found that consuming fruit and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues may reduce the protection against cardiovascular disease and mortality that’s 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. A follow-up study found that in couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology, poorer fertility outcomes were observed in men who consumed fruits and vegetables with a high pesticide load.
Another study reported a link between produce high in pesticide residues and reduced ovarian function.
A large population study in France conducted between 2014 and 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 a person could be exposed to several substances, depending on what they eat.
EWG is especially concerned about how pesticides can harm children’s health through exposure during pregnancy and early life. The Food Quality Protection Act, the 1996 law that updated how pesticides are regulated, requires the EPA to use a 10X children’s health safety factor, when it conducts pesticide reviews, to determine the levels of pesticide exposure that they expect to not cause harm.
A 2020 EWG investigation published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health found that the EPA has failed to adequately protect children from pesticides’ harmful effects, by neglecting to apply the safety factor for almost 90% of the most common pesticides.
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 the Shopper’s Guide.
EWG also emphasizes the importance of more targeted research on the health effects of PFAS pesticides, with specific attention to how they might interplay in mixtures.
Despite these concerns, this guide should not discourage people from buying and consuming produce. A diet that is high in fruit and vegetables, whether organic or conventional, is important for health. Rather, the guide aims to provide useful information about how to reduce exposure to pesticides – particularly for more vulnerable groups, including young children.
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 that helps consumers find ways to reduce exposure to pesticides while encouraging them to consume plenty of fruits and vegetables.
It includes two lists. The first is the Clean Fifteen™, the list of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables with very low or no traces of pesticides. The second is the Dirty Dozen™, or the 12 fresh conventional 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. They’re especially sensitive to disruption and damage from industrial chemicals, including pesticides.
The presence of so many individual pesticides in food is also concerning from a public health standpoint.
When regulating pesticides, government bodies consider them one at a time, without considering the potential total body burden for consumers. Little available data shows 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, mostly from animal studies, suggests that chemicals combined in a mixture can be more toxic than they are individually.
More information
Here are more resources from EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce:
