The following fascinating article was written to me by a friend, patient and an expert in farming.  He is my "go to" expert in regards to anything having to do with farming and its produce.   Please visit his web site at the end of this.

Be careful of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the dirty dozen list. There is no science behind the list and in my opinion it is a very poor statistical project that would not receive a passing grade at the college level.

Follow this link for a peer reviewed counter study by UC scientists.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135239/ Pay particular attention to the last 3 paragraphs.

I will only give one positive remark concerning the EWG and the dirty dozen list. It has caused me and our industry to look at residues and focus on improvements. Even though I am a conventional grower, I have tested our produce for residues this year and there are no detectable pesticides found.

We find 1 fungicide (Fludioxonil) residue on these tests which is specifically applied on the packing line. It is a new one used for about 6 years in the US. Imported fruits still use Iprodione which has systemic action and has been banned from all use in the US other than bloom. Fludioxonil is a new methodology that specifically does not have systemic action and wipes off easily and breaks down quickly in sunlight. It does hold tighter to peaches than nectarines and plums because of the flesh texture but can still be washed off. The only times residues of pesticides are found are thru rescue applications for insect infestations.

These sprays are most likely applied at the minimum pre harvest intervals and result in residues, but generally well below the allowable limit. It is interesting to note that all of our weed control products, bloom period fungicides, spring time insecticides and any dormant period crop care materials never show up on residue tests and these tests are now testing to levels of parts per billion.

So conventional fruit with proper proactive cultural practices can be and in most cases are residue free with exception of Fludioxonil. Unfortunately food safety regulations will not allow us to sell fruit that has not been washed. Because we must scrub and wash the fruit with water it becomes necessary to apply a post-harvest fungicide to protect the fruit even in the shortest distribution systems.

Another note on the dirty dozen: Peaches over the last 3 years have moved from #1 to #4 and US grown nectarines and all plums are not on the list. For the first time imported nectarines were separated from domestic nectarines. Imported nectarines remained #5 on the list and domestic nectarines are not on the list. This is likely because 90% of the domestic nectarines are grown in heavily regulated California where the air is dry and bugs don't thrive like the humid regions of the US.

Peaches however were not segmented by import vs. domestic and as a result California grown peaches get a bum rap.

I also know that eastern US grown peaches require more insecticides and fungicides than CA because of the insect pressure and humidity. This also raises the ranking of peaches as a group.

I have been advocating with USDA and those in charge of the PDP research to separate growing regions. As different as the weather and regulations are, so are the cultural practices and the resulting residues.

I urge you to be informed and cautious with generalizations regarding conventional and organic.  Organic uses pesticides as well.  And with new testing capabilities there eventually will be no such thing as zero.

Again I go back to "know the grower".

Thanks, your friend, Michael Reimer http://brandtfarms.com/ 

Dietary Exposure to Pesticide Residues from Commodities Alleged to Contain the Highest Contamination

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Hamilton D, Ambrus A, Dieterle R, Felsot A, Harris C, Petersen B, Racke K, Wong SS, Gonzalez R, Tanaka K, et al. Pest Manag Sci. 2004 Apr; 60(4):311-39.