Ranking
Vegetables with higher pesticide residue evidence
Leafy greens dominate the top of this list for a structural reason: enormous surface area, harvested close to the last application, eaten raw.
| # | Food | Residue evidence | Verdict | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🍃Spinach1,277 conventional samples · 120 organic | 99/100 | Consider organic | $3.29org $4.49 |
| 2 | 🌿Kale1,239 conventional samples · 175 organic | 84/100 | Consider organic | $2.79org $3.79 |
| 3 | 🫑Bell peppers1,318 conventional samples · 39 organic | 66/100 | Consider organic | $1.49org $2.29 |
| 4 | 🥔Potatoes1,383 conventional samples · 32 organic | 64/100 | Consider organic | $5.49org $7.99 |
| 5 | 🫛Green beans1,314 conventional samples · 93 organic | 63/100 | Consider organic | $2.99org $4.49 |
| 6 | 🥒Cucumbers1,725 conventional samples · 89 organic | 58/100 | Consider organic | $1.19org $1.79 |
| 7 | 🌱Celery1,316 conventional samples · 93 organic | 56/100 | Higher priority | $2.49org $3.49 |
| 8 | 🍅Tomatoes1,874 conventional samples · 63 organic | 56/100 | Consider organic | $2.79org $4.19 |
| 9 | 🪴Zucchini1,313 conventional samples · 91 organic | 53/100 | Consider organic | $1.99org $2.99 |
| 10 | 🥗Romaine lettuce2,110 conventional samples · 97 organic | 47/100 | Consider organic | $3.99org $5.49 |
Why this ranking looks the way it does
A head of spinach presents far more surface per gram than an apple does, and none of it gets peeled. Add a short harvest interval — greens are cut and shipped within days — and you have the conditions that produce the highest residue evidence in the database.
The practical response is not to eat fewer greens. Leafy vegetables carry the highest nutrient-density scores on this site by a wide margin, and the evidence that eating more of them helps is considerably stronger than the evidence that residues at these levels hurt. The response is to buy the organic version of the greens you eat weekly, and to know that cabbage delivers similar cruciferous compounds at a quarter of the price and a fraction of the residue evidence.
Celery deserves a specific note: its grooved stalks channel water up through the plant and are eaten raw and unpeeled, which is why it ranks well above other stalk vegetables.
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