Which Foods Contain the Most Pesticides?

Pesticides are often necessary to keep crops safe, but many consumers have been increasingly concerned about the amount of pesticides and herbicides that remain on the food they purchase. Some foods are more susceptible to exposure to pesticides than others. A team of researchers at Nadrich & Cohen looked at data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to see which foods have the most pesticide and herbicide residue. The study looks at both domestic and imported foods.

The visualization utilizes horizontal bar charts to show the percentage of samples that contained pesticide residue. It also uses the same horizontal bars to visualize the percentage of the samples that violated federal standards.

The following are the foods that rank highest for most herbicide/pesticide residue for both domestic and imported foods:

1. Raspberry fruit/juice: 95.8%
2. Peach fruit/juice: 92.9%
3. Cucumbers: 85.2%
4. Hot peppers: 85.1%
5. Celery: 83.9%
6. Potatoes: 83.3%
7. Spinach: 82.2%
8. Pear fruit/juice: 81.8%
9. Kale: 80.1%
10. Cilantro: 77.8%

In terms of domestic foods, 100% of samples of these foods had pesticide and/or herbicide residue: orange juice/fruit, cherry fruit/juice, broccoli, spinach, raspberry fruit/juice, hot peppers, apricot fruit/juice, peach fruit/juice, rice/rice products, and cucumbers.

These are the foods that have the lowest rate of herbicide/pesticide residue for domestic and imported foods:

1. Cauliflower: 6%
2. Asparagus: 7.2%
3. Cranberry fruit/juice: 23.1%
4. Mushrooms and truffles: 26.1%
5. Oats and oat products: 26.7%
6. Edible seeds and seed products: 27.8%
7. Corn and corn products: 32.2%

For domestic foods, none of the samples had herbicide or pesticide residue: cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, red beets, and asparagus.