When it comes to healthy eating, fruits and vegetables reign supreme. But along with all their vitamins, minerals and other nutrients can come something else: an unhealthy dose of dangerous pesticides.

Though using chemicals to control bugs, fungi and weeds helps farmers grow the food we need, it’s been clear since at least the 1960s that some chemicals also carry unacceptable health risks. And although certain notorious pesticides, such as DDT, have been banned in the US, government regulators have been slow to act on others. Even when a dangerous chemical is removed from the market, chemical companies and growers sometimes just start using other options that may be as dangerous.

Consumer Reports, which has tracked the use of pesticides on produce for decades, has seen this pattern repeat itself over and over. “It’s two steps forward and one step back – and sometimes even two steps back,” says James E Rogers, who oversees food safety at Consumer Reports.

To get a sense of the current situation, Consumer Reports recently conducted our most comprehensive review ever of pesticides in food. To do it, we analyzed seven years of data from the US Department of Agriculture, which each year tests a selection of conventional and organic produce grown in or imported to the US for pesticide residues. We looked at 59 common fruits and vegetables, including, in some cases, not just fresh versions but also canned, dried or frozen ones.

Our new results continue to raise red flags.

Pesticides posed significant risks in 20% of the foods we examined, including popular choices such as bell peppers, blueberries, green beans, potatoes and strawberries. One food, green beans, had residues of a pesticide that hasn’t been allowed to be used on the vegetable in the US for over a decade. And imported produce, especially some from Mexico, was particularly likely to carry risky levels of pesticide residues.

But there was good news, too. Pesticides presented little to worry about in nearly two-thirds of the foods, including nearly all of the organic ones. Also encouraging: the largest risks are caused by just a few pesticides, concentrated in a handful of foods, grown on a small fraction of US farmland. “That makes it easier to identify the problems and develop targeted solutions,” Rogers says – though he acknowledges that it will take time and effort to get the Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates the use of pesticides on crops, to make the necessary changes.

In the meantime, our analysis offers insights into simple steps you can take to limit exposure to harmful pesticides, such as using our ratings to identify which fruits and vegetables to focus on in your diet, and when buying organic produce can make the most sense.

What’s safer, what’s risky, and why

Sixteen of the 25 fruits and 21 of the 34 vegetables in our analysis had low levels of pesticide risk. Even children and pregnant people can safely eat more than three servings a day of those foods, Consumer Reports’ food safety experts say. Ten foods were of moderate risk; up to three servings a day of them are OK.

The flip side: 12 foods presented bigger concerns. Children and pregnant people should consume less than a serving a day of high-risk fruits and vegetables, and less than half a serving a day of very high-risk ones. Everyone else should limit consumption of those foods, too.

To come up with that advice, we analyzed the USDA’s test results for 29,643 individual food samples. We rated the risk of each fruit or vegetable by factoring in how many pesticides showed up in the food, how often they were found, the amount of each pesticide detected and each chemical’s toxicity.

The Alliance for Food and Farming, a farming industry organization, pointed out to Consumer Reports that more than 99% of foods tested by the USDA contained pesticide residues below the Environmental Protection Agency’s legal limits (referred to as tolerances).

But Consumer Reports’ scientists think many EPA tolerances are set too high. That’s why we use lower limits for pesticides that can harm the body’s neurological system or are suspected endocrine disruptors (meaning they may mimic or interfere with the body’s hormones). Consumer Reports’ approach also accounts for the possibility that other health risks may emerge as we learn more about these chemicals.

“The way the EPA assesses pesticide risk doesn’t reflect cutting-edge science and can’t account for all the ways the chemicals might affect people’s health, especially given that people are often exposed to multiple pesticides at a time,” says Consumer Reports senior scientist Michael Hansen. “So we take a precautionary approach, to make sure we don’t underestimate risks.”

In our analysis, a fruit or vegetable can contain several pesticides but still be considered low-risk if the combination of the number, concentration and toxicity of them is low. For example, broccoli fared well not because it had no pesticide residues but because higher-risk chemicals were at low levels and on just a few samples.

Some of the most problematic foods, on the other hand, had relatively few residues but worrisome levels of some high-risk pesticides.

Case in point: watermelon. It’s very high-risk mainly because of a pesticide called oxamyl. Only 11 of 331 conventional, domestic watermelon samples tested positive for oxamyl. But it’s among those that Consumer Reports’ experts believe require extra caution because of their potential for serious health risks.

Green beans are another example. They qualify as high-risk primarily because of a pesticide called acephate or one of its breakdown products, methamidophos. Only 4% of conventional, domestic green bean samples were positive for one or both – but their pesticide levels were often alarmingly high. In one sample from 2022 (the most recent year for which data was available), methamidophos levels were more than 100 times the level Consumer Reports’ scientists consider safe; in another, acephate levels were seven times higher. And in some 2021 samples, levels were higher still.

This is especially troubling because neither chemical should be on green beans at all: growers in the US have been prohibited from applying acephate to green beans since 2011, and methamidophos to all food since 2009.

“When you grab a handful of green beans at the supermarket or pick out a watermelon, your chance of getting one with risky pesticide levels may be relatively low,” Rogers says. “But if you do, you could get a much higher dose than you should, and if you eat the food often, the chances increase.”

In some cases a food qualifies as high-risk because of several factors, such as high levels of a moderately dangerous pesticide on many samples. Example: chlorpropham on potatoes. It’s not the most toxic pesticide – but it was on more than 90% of tested potatoes.

How pesticides can harm you

Pesticides are one of the only categories of chemicals we manufacture “specifically to kill organisms”, says Chensheng (Alex) Lu, an affiliate professor at the University of Washington in Seattle who researches the health effects of pesticide exposure. So it’s no surprise, he says, that pesticides used to manage insects, fungi and weeds may harm people, too.

While there are still open questions about exactly how and to what extent chronic exposure to pesticides can harm our health, scientists are piecing together a compelling case that some can, drawing on a mix of laboratory, animal and human research.

One type of evidence comes from population studies looking at health outcomes in people who eat foods with relatively high pesticide levels. A recent review in the journal Environmental Health, which looked at six such studies, found evidence linking pesticides to increased risks of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Stronger evidence of pesticides’ dangers comes from research looking at people who may be particularly vulnerable to pesticides, including farm workers and their families. In addition to the thousands of workers who become ill from pesticide poisonings every year, studies have linked on-the-job use of a variety of pesticides with a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease, breast cancer, diabetes and many more health problems.

Other research found that exposure during pregnancy to a common class of pesticides called organophosphates was associated with poorer intellectual development and reduced lung function in the children of farm workers.

Pregnancy and childhood are times of particular vulnerability to pesticides, in part because certain pesticides can be endocrine disruptors. Those are chemicals that interfere with hormones responsible for the development of a variety of the body’s systems, especially reproductive systems, says Tracey Woodruff, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

Another concern is that long-term exposure to even small amounts of pesticides may be especially harmful to people with chronic health problems, those who live in areas where they are exposed to many other toxins and people who face other social or economic health stresses, says Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

That’s one of the reasons, she says, regulators should employ extra safety margins when setting pesticide limits – to account for all the uncertainty in how pesticides might harm us.

How to stop eating pesticides

While our analysis of USDA pesticide data found that some foods still have worrisome levels of certain dangerous pesticides, it also offers insights into how you can limit your pesticide exposure now, and what government regulators should do to fix the problem in the long term.

Eat lots of low-risk produce. A quick scan of this chart makes one thing clear: there are lots of good options to choose from.

“That’s great,” says Amy Keating, a registered dietitian at Consumer Reports. “You can eat a variety of healthy fruits and vegetables without stressing too much about pesticide risk, provided you take some simple steps at home.” (See Can you wash pesticides off your food? A guide to eating fewer toxic chemicals.)

Your best bet is to choose produce rated low-risk or very low-risk in our analysis and, when possible, opt for organic instead of riskier foods you enjoy. Or swap in lower-risk alternatives for riskier ones. For example, try snap peas instead of green beans, cantaloupe in place of watermelon, cabbage or dark green lettuces for kale, and the occasional sweet potato instead of a white one.

But you don’t need to eliminate higher-risk foods from your diet. Eating them occasionally is fine.

“The harm, even from the most problematic produce, comes from exposure during vulnerable times such as pregnancy or early childhood, or from repeated exposure over years,” Rogers says.

Switch to organic when possible. A proven way to reduce pesticide exposure is to eat organic fruits and vegetables, especially for the highest-risk foods. We had information about organically grown versions for 45 of the 59 foods in our analysis. Nearly all had low or very low pesticide risk, and only two domestically grown varieties – fresh spinach and potatoes – posed even a moderate risk.

Organic foods’ low-risk ratings indicate that the USDA’s organic certification program, for the most part, is working.

Pesticides aren’t totally prohibited on organic farms, but they are sharply restricted. Organic growers may use pesticides only if other practices – such as crop rotation – can’t fully address a pest problem. Even then, farmers can apply only low-risk pesticides derived from natural mineral or biological sources that have been approved by the USDA’s National Organic Program.

Less pesticide on food means less in our bodies: multiple studies have shown that switching to an organic diet quickly reduces dietary exposure. Organic farming protects health in other ways, too, especially of farm workers and rural residents, because pesticides are less likely to drift into the areas where they live or to contaminate drinking water.

And organic farming protects other living organisms, many of which are even more vulnerable to pesticides than we are. For example, organic growers can’t use a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, a group of chemicals that may cause developmental problems in young children – and is clearly hazardous to aquatic life, birds and important pollinators including honeybees, wild bees and butterflies.

The rub, of course, is price: organic food tends to cost more – sometimes much more.

“That’s why, while we think it’s always worth considering organic produce, it’s most important for the handful of fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest pesticide risk,” Rogers says. He also says that opting for organic is most crucial for young children and during pregnancy, when people are extra vulnerable to the potential harms of the chemicals.

Watch out for some imports. Overall, imported fruits and vegetables and those grown domestically are pretty comparable, with roughly an equal number of them posing a moderate or worse pesticide risk. But imports, particularly from Mexico, can be especially risky.

Seven imported foods in our analysis pose a very high risk, compared with just four domestic ones. And of the 100 individual fruit or vegetable samples in our analysis with the highest pesticide risk levels, 65 were imported. Most of those – 52 – came from Mexico, and the majority involved strawberries (usually frozen) or green beans (nearly all contaminated with acephate, the pesticide that’s prohibited for use on green beans headed to the US).

A spokesperson for the Food and Drug Administration told Consumer Reports that the agency is aware of the problem of acephate contamination on green beans from Mexico. Between 2017 and 2024, the agency has issued import alerts on 14 Mexican companies because of acephate found on green beans. These alerts allow the FDA to detain the firms’ food shipments until they can prove the foods are not contaminated with the illegal pesticide residues in question.

The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, which represents many major importers of fruits and vegetables from Mexico, did not respond to a request for comment.

Rogers, at Consumer Reports, says: “Clearly, the safeguards aren’t working as they are supposed to.” As a result, “consumers are being exposed to much higher levels of very dangerous pesticides than they should.” Because of those risks, he suggests checking packaging on green beans and strawberries for the country of origin, and consider other sources, including organic.

How to solve the pesticide problem

Perhaps the most reassuring, and powerful, part of Consumer Reports’ analysis is that it demonstrates that the risks of pesticides are concentrated in just a handful of foods and pesticides.

Of the nearly 30,000 total fruit and vegetable samples Consumer Reports looked at, just 2,400, or about 8%, qualified as high-risk or very high-risk. And among those samples, just two broad classes of chemicals, organophosphates and a similar type of pesticide called carbamates, were responsible for most of the risk.

“That not only means that most of the produce Americans consume has low levels of pesticide risk, but it makes trying to solve the problem much more manageable, by letting regulators and growers know exactly what they need to concentrate on,” says Brian Ronholm, head of food policy at Consumer Reports.

Organophosphates and carbamates became popular after DDT and related pesticides were phased out in the 1970s and 1980s. But concerns about these pesticides soon followed. While the EPA has removed a handful of them from the market and lowered limits on some foods for a few others, many organophosphates and carbamates are still used on fruits and vegetables.

Take, for instance, phosmet, an organophosphate that is the main culprit behind blueberries’ poor score. Until recently, phosmet rarely appeared among the most concerning samples of pesticide-contaminated food. But in recent years, it’s become a main contributor of pesticide risk in some fruits and vegetables, according to our analysis.

“That’s happened in part because when a high-risk pesticide is banned or pushed off the market, some farmers switch to a similar one still on the market that too often ends up posing comparable or even greater harm,” says Charles Benbrook, an independent expert on pesticide use and regulation, who consulted with Consumer Reports on our pesticide analysis.

Consumer Reports’ food safety experts say our current analysis has identified several ways the EPA, FDA and USDA could better protect consumers.

That includes doing a more effective job of working with agricultural agencies in other countries and inspecting imported food, especially from Mexico, and conducting and supporting research to more fully elucidate the risks of pesticides. In addition, the government should provide more support to organic farmers and invest more federal dollars to expand the supply of organic food – which would, in turn, lower prices for consumers.

But one of the most effective, and simple, steps the EPA could take to reduce overall pesticide risk would be to ban the use of any organophosphate or carbamate on food crops.

The EPA told Consumer Reports that “each chemical is individually evaluated based on its toxicity and exposure profile”, and that the agency had required extra safety measures for several organophosphates.

But Consumer Reports’ Ronholm says that approach is insufficient. “We’ve seen time and again that doesn’t work. Industry and farmers simply hop over to another related chemical that may pose similar risks.”

Canceling two whole classes of pesticides may sound extreme. “But the vast majority of fruits and vegetables eaten in the US are already grown without hazardous pesticides,” Ronholm says. “We just don’t need them. And the foods American consumers eat every day would be much, much safer without them.”

Read more from this pesticide investigation:

Find out more about pesticides at Consumer Reports

Attention home cooks: do you, like me, have half a lemon, perhaps encased in a beeswax wrap or clingfilm, sitting in your fridge? Half a cucumber, going dry at one end? Or maybe an open jar of capers, barely used, but well past the two-week recommended refrigeration period? So often, a recipe requires just half an onion, or a third of a block of tofu – especially when cooking for one.

According to the 2024 UN Food Waste Index report, about a fifth of the world’s food is wasted. Worldwide, households are responsible for the majority of it: about 60% of the 1bn tonnes of food thrown away annually. So how best to keep your leftover food fresh – and for how long does it remain safe to eat?

1. Avocado

Earlier this year, the food magazine Bon Appétit tackled the pressing question of how best to store half an avocado. Its advice was to remove the pit, leave the skin on and place it cut-side down on a plate. Using lemon or lime juice on the cut side, or wrapping the whole thing in clingfilm, can also help to minimise oxidation, which is what causes avocado flesh to turn grey and mushy.

2. Tofu

Firm tofu keeps better than the silken variety for leftovers, according to Amy Poon, the founder of the Chinese restaurant Poon’s London. “Tofu should keep for two to three days if stored in a plastic container, submerged in clean, cold water (not the water it comes in), but you should change the water daily,” she says. “You can also freeze tofu.”

3. Tinned goods

Tins are a big fridge no-no since, once opened, the tin from the can can transfer more quickly to the contents, according to the Food Standards Agency. Many tinned items – such as baked beans or coconut milk – are also available in half-size cans, which may be more suitable for using as part of a meal for one, although they are rarely the most economical option. James Cooper, the deputy director of food policy at the FSA, advises emptying leftover contents into a bowl or airtight container before storing it in the fridge. “Use a clean cover that is suitable for food to protect the contents from drips and spills, and use within two days or freeze if you think this won’t be possible,” he says.

4. Lemon wedges

Often, leftover lemon wedges can simply be served alongside whichever dish they have been partially used to season – but what about for drinks? “Cut fruit is a tricky one,” says Will Meredith, a beverage consultant for restaurants including Fenix in Manchester and Tattu (nationwide). “Citrus will oxidise very quickly due to all the sugar and acid – you can only expect to use slices or wedges on the day you cut them. To keep them looking and feeling fresh, place in a bowl filled with crushed or shaved ice – like you see in a fish market.”

5. Pancake batter

Fancy pancakes two days on the trot? You’re in luck! Joe Fox, the executive head chef for Firmdale Hotels, assures me that batter will keep – “although it may separate a little bit, so you’ll need to give it a good mix”, he says. “I’d transfer it straight away into an airtight container or a jam jar in the fridge, otherwise the air can cause it to discolour, which can be off-putting.”

6. Eggs

At least pancakes use whole eggs – what of recipes that require only the yolks or the whites? Rachel Morgan, co-founder of Twelve Triangles bakery in Edinburgh, keeps leftovers in a plastic container or a bowl covered in clingfilm. “Whites I’ve kept for about 10 days in the fridge; yolks tend to keep not so well and form a bit of skin, so if you have any to store I would freeze them instead,” she suggests.

7. Things in brine

I could probably eat a whole jar of olives in one sitting, but capers and cornichons are more persistent fridge-lingerers. How best to make them last? “Once opened, you want to avoid as much oxygen as possible getting into the jars, as that will create mould and foul odours,” says Meredith. “The simplest thing is get some baking paper, cut a disc large enough to cover the liquid in the jar and pat it down to create a block between the ingredients and the lid. This will prevent oxygen tainting those lovely olives, pickles or any other jarred goods.” He recommends keeping brined foods refrigerated if possible, but it’s not essential (although the storage instructions may disagree).

8. Juice

This is a complicated one – is your juice fresh? From concentrate? Pasteurised? Some unopened shop-bought juices can be kept for many months, but most have a relatively short shelf life once the seal has been broken. The FSA is strict on this: it recommends “reading the label and following the manufacturer’s instructions” – which often means consuming within three to five days. Eat By Date – “a group of contributors from the kitchen and classroom communities who set out to answer the question, ‘How long does food really last?’” – go by brand, advising that refrigerated Welch’s grape juice, for example, is safe to consume seven to 10 days after opening, while Ocean Spray cranberry juice lasts two to three weeks.

9. Non-dairy milk

“They just keep going, don’t they?” says Fox. Anyone who has made the switch from dairy will have noticed that alternative milks often seem to last well beyond the recommended five or so days in the fridge. “You could decant the milk into a glass bottle but it is kind of designed to be stored in the carton,” he says. “I feel like oat and almond milk last the longest – things like soya turn quicker. If you do store it in glass, you will be better able to see if the milk has split, but a good shake would probably bring it back together; you can taste if it’s gone bad.”

10. Bread

“If bread gets warm in a bread bin, it’ll be more likely to go mouldy, as any moisture in it will condense,” says Morgan. Instead, she keeps hers in a cotton or paper bag. But what if mould has already appeared – just a tiny bit on the crust, perhaps? Can you just slice it off and salvage the rest? “I wouldn’t,” she says. Most experts seem to agree, since, although only a few spots may be visible, porous food such as bread can be contaminated beneath the surface – which is enough to put anyone off their toast. However, you can also freeze bread for greater longevity.

11. Cucumber

Is there a way to avoid throwing out that dried-out end slice? “Once cut, I keep cucumber in an airtight container, lined with a little kitchen paper or a clean tea towel [in the fridge],” says Melissa Hemsley, the author of cookbooks including Feel Good and the forthcoming Real Healthy. “If you do feel the need to chop off the end, you only need to slice the thinnest round off. Also, cook with cucumber! If your remaining half is a touch less than fresh, I like to stir-fry it with sesame oil, garlic and chilli.”

12. Cheese

From roquefort to red leicester, Hemsley has useful advice about open packets of cheese: “Beeswax wraps or silicone reusable bags are really handy, or seal the packaging with elastic bands,” she suggests. Cheese buyer Dan Bliss wraps her cheese in wax or baking paper, stores it in a plastic container in the fridge – and suggests adding a sugar cube to the pot, to suck up any excess moisture. Unlike bread, if your cheese decides to sprout mould, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s game over – especially if it’s hard cheese.

13. Open packets of wraps/naans

Again, preventing moisture is key to longevity. Morgan wraps open packs of naan or tortilla wraps in clingfilm before storing somewhere dry, while Eat By Date suggests tortillas “generally last for a week after their ‘best by’ date on the counter and about a month if placed in the fridge”.

14. Things in jars

For me, this comprises almost an entire fridge shelf: harissa, tomato puree, pesto, gochujang and curry pastes can all sit for weeks – perhaps longer – used once, then abandoned. I refuse to let them go to waste and yet, according to Leonard Tanyag, the executive chef at Los Mochis London City, I am doing it all wrong if I want them to remain fit for consumption: really, they shouldn’t be left in their jars at all. “Once opened, transfer to an airtight container to maintain their freshness and add some oil on top to prevent air exposure, which makes it last for weeks,” he says. And, of course, you should “always check or smell the opened paste before use for any signs of spoilage”.

15. Half an onion

Onions are a little like avocados in terms of maintaining freshness: keep the skin on the half you’re not using, then place cut-side down on a plate in the fridge. “If you don’t know when you’re next going to use the leftover onion, chop it and freeze it,” suggests Hemsley. “Then you’ve got it ready to go in a future pasta sauce or soup or stir fry.”

16. Fresh herbs

Whether it’s mint for your mojito or coriander for your tacos, fresh herbs can bring a recipe to life – but they also wilt fast. “Wrap them in damp blue cloths or kitchen roll and keep in the fridge,” suggests Meredith. “Doing this will extend the shelf life by several days.”

17. Jams and chutneys

“Try to always use a clean spoon – double dipping will increase the bacteria risk,” explains Fox, who tells me he has a chutney in his fridge from during the pandemic and it’s “still going, still tasty”. Lillie O’Brien, the owner of small-batch jam and marmalade makers London Borough of Jam, recommends refrigerating jams and preserves after opening, although “if you are going to eat them quickly and it’s not summer, then they will be fine left on a kitchen bench for a week or two”. Products that are lower in preserving agents could go mouldy if left out longer, she says.

18. Salad

“Heads of lettuce generally last much better than bagged leaves,” says Hemsley. Like cucumber, she stores salad in the fridge in an airtight container lined with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel to absorb any excess moisture. “If salad has gone a bit wilted and sad, you can revive the leaves by putting them in a big bowl of iced water for 10-15 minutes, then drain and dry in a salad spinner,” she suggests. “If you have a few rogue soggy leaves, remove them so they don’t infiltrate the rest of the lettuce.”