Photo: Alan Levine / Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Fresh Fruit Portal: A U.S. nonprofit representing farmers has criticized the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) latest “Dirty Dozen” list, which ranks produce items based on pesticide residues and now claims strawberries are the “most contaminated”. In a release, the Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF) highlighted the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Pesticide Data Program said pesticides did not pose a safety concern for U.S. food.

“We aren’t surprised that EWG has a new number one this year. We even predicted it since media coverage of the “dirty dozen” list has fallen dramatically in the last five years and reached an all-time low last year,” said AFF executive director Marilyn Dolan. “We also predicted that the new number one would be a popular fruit that is a favorite among children because this is an EWG prerequisite for a number one placement.”

Read the full article at the Fresh Fruit Portal website