The Clean 15 vs. The Dirty Dozen

 Want to know what non-organic produce uses the least pesticide and what uses the most? Let's see.

The Clean Fifteen :) - Top Produce with the Least Pesticide     1. Onion 2. Avocado 3. Sweet Corn 4. Pineapples 5. Mango 6. Sweet Pea 7. Asparagus 8. Kiwi Fruits 9. Cabbage 10. Eggplant 11. Cantaloupe 12. Watermelon 13. Grapefruits 14. Sweet Potato 15. Sweet Onion

The Dirty Dozen :-( - Produce with the highest Pesticide Residue 1. Celery 2. Peach 3. Strawberry 4. Apple 5. Blueberry 6. Nectarine 7. Capsicum 8. Spinach, Kale, Collard Green 9. Cherry 10. Potato 11. Grape 12. Lettuce

*The Dirty Dozen* are reported to contain 47-67 Pesticides per serving!

Other items with high pesticide residue include fatty meats, milk, chocolate, wine and coffee.

Food and Sustainability

 I thought I would post some of the (at times shocking) facts that I learnt in Nepal from my amazing Canadian friend and nutrition teacher Wendy Akune. I will conclude with a post on how you can minimize your impact and monitor the affect your own nutrition on your moods, health and general well-being. Enjoy.

- In 1961 produce began to be shipped which signaled the end of predominantly local produce.

- In the US the average kilogram of produce travels more than 2400km from farm to plate.

-In the UK food travels 50% farther than 20 years ago.

- In Norway food travels 100% further than 10 years ago.

- On the average supermarket shelves there are roughly 30,000 products. Half of these are produced by 10 multi-national companies.140 people form the boards of directors of these ten companies.
That means 140 people controlling half the food in a large supermarket!!!

- 6 companies now control 98% of the world’s seed sales.

-Through consolidation-i.e mergers, takeovers and alliances, multi-national farms are now controlling the food system from gene to supermarket shelf.This Includes:
-Seeds
-Pesticides
-Grain Collection
-Grain processing
-Livestock production
-Livestock slaughtering; and
-Processed Food