flour
	potatoes
	bread
	apples
	pears
	grapes
	strawberries
	green beans
	tomatoes
	cucumber

We used the government’s Pesticide Residues Committee published data from 2000 to 2005 to determine what foods have been tested and what pesticides were found. We looked at how often pesticides at any level were detected, how frequently legal levels were exceeded and how often more than one pesticide was found on a sample.

The full list of foods in alphabetical order, together with a summary of the information about how frequently pesticides have been detected on average, over the five years can be seen by clicking here.

The list was then sorted for the best and worst fruit and vegetables.

fruit . vegetables/salad . other foods

The list of the worst ten foods (shown on the left) was compiled based not only the frequency of residues being detected but we also considered how much of these foods people tend to eat (based on data provided by the Pesticides Safety Directorate) and whether or not they are peeled before eating.  We put all of this information together to identify those foods that are likely to give the highest consumption of pesticides in the diet of typical UK consumers. 

We aim to regularly check the residues that are detected in the government’s analyses, to highlight when safety levels are exceeded, and to identify when we believe there are failures in the protection of public health.  We also want to raise awareness in the public about the broader implications for the high levels of pesticides that are used to produce our food.