«
»

Going Organic: Pesticides and Baby Food

August 11th 2008 by Dr.MOZ in Dear Dr.MOZ, Family Health, Food Fun, Organic Products

Going Organic: Pesticides and Baby Food

Dear Dr.MOZ,

I’m researching making my own baby food and was curious to know more about fruit and vegetable pesticides. I can’t afford to go 100% organic, but I’d like to begin by weeding-out the foods with the highest chemical levels. Where should I start?

Thanks!
Oregon Mama

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hi Oregon Mama,

A great way to begin weeding-out the chemicals would be to organize your recipes. Once your baby food recipes are organized, you’ll then be ready to compare your main ingredients to the EWG’s Pesticides in Produce list. You’ll likely see many of your

main ingredients in their “dirty dozen” list which shows produce commonly found to have the highest “pesticide load“. Now that you’ve identified the usual suspects, it will be easy to see which foods to begin replacing with organic fruit and vegetables. A few on the top of EGW’s list include:

  • 10 of EWG’s Dirty Dozen: (1) Peaches (2) Apples (3) Sweet Bell Peppers (4) Celery (5) Nectarines (6) Strawberries (7) Cherries (8) Lettuce (9) Grapes (imported) (10) Pears

That’s just a peak at EWG’s list, so I recommend visiting their site and printing the entire list of 43 foods. It’s a useful a resource that I think many other parents would be interested in as well, so I’ve made it this month’s feature in the sidebar. Thanks for the great question Oregon Mama!

Have fun and stay healthy,
Dr.MOZ

8 Responses to “Going Organic: Pesticides and Baby Food”

  1. Gloria Says:
    August 12th, 2008 at 2:42 am

    Your blog is beautiful. It is really helpful for every mother who are searching for a healthy food to feed their children.

  2. Kimberlie Says:
    August 12th, 2008 at 10:23 am

    I have a new born baby (1 month old). I never thought that chemicals in our food would really affect us all that much. Do I, as a mother, need to watch what I eat (as far as chemicals go) if I’m breast feeding my baby?

    Thanks,

    Kimberlie

  3. Polina Says:
    August 14th, 2008 at 8:45 am

    oh my… you’ve just listed all of my most beloved products:((( my only hope is that our local farmers do not put much pesticides in apples, strawberries and cherries…

  4. Gus Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 1:15 am

    :( In my country the pesticides are a very big problem when it comes to the health of our little kids… ((

  5. Herb Says:
    October 16th, 2008 at 8:57 am

    Pesticides is something to be on the lookout for when cooking vegetables. It is important to wash and clean all vegetables and fruit before we consume them especially if babies and kids are going to be eating as well. A solution to this problem could be growing your own vegetables in the garden.

  6. Luanne Says:
    November 5th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    I love your website. Thank you for the excellent information. I have tried a lot of organic fruits (not veggies yet) like apples and peaches. I have found they taste so much better than nonorganic. They are far sweeter and juicier. I would recommend organic fruits to anyone, they are worth the extra money.

  7. darren Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    parents need to realize how important it is to their children’s health to wash their fruits and vegetables, and also peel and skin them if they are not organically grown

  8. Juan- Landscape Designer Says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 4:42 am

    We parents should be aware of all these stuffs, Great thing this site is sharing a lot of good stuffs and the essentials.