New Zealand's Dirty Dozen

When you're diagnosed with cancer, you want to do all you can to give your body the best chance at fighting.  Immediately, we look at the changes we can make and food is an area where we have a lot of control BUT it can be overwhelming thinking about converting your entire grocery shop to organic foods never mind the significant blow to your budget.  

This is a list of 12 foods in New Zealand that contain the highest amount of pesticide residue.  If you were to buy just these foods organically, you would be removing a significant pesticide load from your body.  Food for thought.

  1. Celery
  2. Peaches, fresh/canned
  3. Apricots, fresh/canned
  4. Butter/cream/cheese
  5. Wheat: bread, all products
  6. Apples
  7. Plums
  8. Mandarines
  9. Rasberries
  10. Oranges
  11. Strawberries
  12. Grapes/raisins/sultanas



The 'dirty dozen' is followed closely by cucumber, nectarines, lettuce, tomatoes, wine and pears.

For more information you can visit a very cool New Zealand organisation called the Safe Food Campaign,   This passionate group of New Zealanders are working hard to keep our food clean.

1. Data obtained from NZ Food Safety Authority surveys: 2003/04 New Zealand Total Diet Survey, NZ Food Residue Surveillance Programmes 2004-2008, all available at  Results from several years were combined to produce sample sizes that were more robust for analysis. A summary of residues from 280 apple samples taken from 120 orchards after harvest but before washing was supplied courtesy of Apple Futures.