The EWG's updated 2025 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ highlights the fruits and vegetables most likely to carry the most pesticide residues.

While the findings offer new insight into pesticide exposure, the report is meant to inform—not alarm.

The EWG Shopper's Guide is a tool to help people avoid consuming potentially harmful chemicals, Alexa Friedman, senior scientist at EWG, said in a press release. "Everyone should eat more fruits and vegetables—organic or conventional."

"My goal is to get people to eat more produce, not less," Elizabeth Shaw, a registered dietitian and author of four books on practical, healthful eating, who was not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Shaw says that fruits and vegetables—organic or not—are still essential for a healthy diet.

Why They Made the List

The Dirty Dozen list highlights fruits and vegetables that tend to carry the highest levels and varieties of pesticide residue, based on federal data.

EWG researchers assessed data from pesticide residue tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on more than 53,000 samples of 47 fruits and vegetables.

This year, blackberries and potatoes joined the list after testing revealed frequent contamination with chemicals like cypermethrin, a pesticide the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies as a probable human carcinogen, and chlorpropham, a sprout inhibitor banned in the EU in 2019.

USDA testing found that 93 percent of conventional blackberry samples carried pesticide residues, with an average of four different substances per sample. Potatoes showed chlorpropham in 90 percent of samples tested.

These changes reflect how the EWG ranks pesticide risk. For the first time, the list weighs not just how often pesticides are found or in what amounts—but also how toxic the chemicals are, based on safety thresholds.

"This means we're not only flagging produce with the most pesticides, we're also highlighting those with potential health hazards," Varun Subramaniam, associate scientist at EWG, said in the press release.