How many strawberries do you eat each year?

Earlier this week the Environmental Working Group released EWG's 2016 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce™. Hundreds of thousands of consumers like you are turning to this important resource to shop smarter and cleaner by avoiding fruits and veggies most likely to be laden in pesticide residues.

This year’s response is staggering.

For the first time ever, strawberries lead EWG’s Dirty Dozen™ list for the product with the highest number of pesticide residues, displacing apples, which headed the list for the last five years running.

Check out these surprising facts to learn more about conventional strawberry production in the United States:

What can you do to minimize your exposure to potentially harmful pesticide residues? The answer is simple: Shop organic (especially when the fruits and veggies you want fall on EWG’s Dirty Dozen™ list).

I know that you can’t always find or afford organic produce. That’s why they've created EWG’s Clean Fifteen™ list - highlighting the conventional fruits and vegetables that are least likely to have pesticide residues.

To read more about strawberry production and how to inform your friends and family, click here.

Are you surprised by this announcement?

Do you already buy organic strawberries? If not, will you make the switch?

I'd love to hear more from you about this — use the comments section below to chime in!