On March 24, 2026, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released its much-anticipated 2026 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, once again igniting a heated debate about what’s really lurking on the fruits and vegetables that fill America’s grocery carts. This annual guide, popularly known as the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists, draws on extensive pesticide residue data from over 54,000 produce samples tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). But this year, the report has introduced a new twist: the detection of PFAS “forever chemicals” in pesticide residues on some of the most popular produce items.
Let’s start with the basics. The EWG’s guide divides produce into two categories: the Dirty Dozen, which highlights fruits and vegetables with the highest concentration, variety, and toxicity of detected pesticide residues, and the Clean Fifteen, which features those with the lowest. According to CNN, spinach, kale, collard and mustard greens, strawberries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, cherries, apples, blackberries, pears, potatoes, and blueberries make up this year’s Dirty Dozen. Notably, spinach topped the list, averaging more pesticide residue by weight than any other produce and containing four or more different types of pesticides per sample.
The numbers are eye-opening: 96% of Dirty Dozen samples contained pesticide residues, with a staggering 203 different pesticides detected across these items. Most samples had four or more pesticides present, and blackberries—newly tested this year—averaged more than four pesticides per sample. Potatoes were the only exception, averaging two. As Food & Wine reported, even after washing and peeling, traces of 264 pesticides and their breakdown products were found across all samples tested.
But what’s really causing a stir in 2026 is the presence of PFAS pesticides. These so-called “forever chemicals” are notorious for their persistence in the environment and the human body, breaking down at a glacial pace—sometimes over centuries. EWG’s analysis revealed that PFAS pesticide residues were found on 63% of Dirty Dozen samples, with the PFAS compound fludioxonil detected in 14% of all produce samples and in nearly 90% of peaches and plums. Two other PFAS pesticides, fluopyram and bifenthrin, were among the ten most frequently detected chemicals. According to EWG’s Varun Subramaniam, “PFAS are a class of more than 10,000 synthetic chemicals known as ‘forever chemicals’ because of their extreme persistence in the environment.”
Why does this matter? PFAS chemicals have been linked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to a laundry list of health concerns, including cancer, obesity, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, decreased fertility, liver damage, hormone disruption, and immune system impairment. “The PFAS pesticide is the active ingredient in these products because it’s effective at killing things — which is the very reason why it’s so concerning to public health and the environment at large,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s senior vice president for California operations, told CNN. She added, “The fact that we’re intentionally spraying forever chemicals on the produce we’re buying at the grocery store is a real eye-opener.”
But before you swear off strawberries and spinach forever, it’s worth noting that not everyone agrees on the level of risk these residues actually pose. Food safety researchers and toxicologists have long pointed out that detecting a pesticide residue is not the same as proving it’s harmful at the levels found. Food Safety Magazine highlighted a peer-reviewed analysis from 2024 that applied standard risk assessment methods to the Dirty Dozen and found that estimated daily exposure for every pesticide-produce combination was well below the EPA’s health-based guidance values—sometimes by hundreds or thousands of times. One immunologist calculated that a person would need to eat hundreds of servings of a Dirty Dozen food daily to reach the safety threshold, which is itself set far below any level likely to cause harm. For example, a woman could theoretically eat 145 pounds of conventionally grown spinach a day—about 774 servings—without surpassing even the most conservative safety limits.
Still, the EWG stands by its mission to inform consumers. “Consumers have a right to know what’s on their food,” said Subramaniam. The group frames its guide as a tool for making informed choices, not as a scare tactic to drive people away from fruits and vegetables. “The Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen lists aren’t meant to discourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables, but rather to help shoppers better understand what may be on their produce so they can make informed decisions at the grocery store,” Subramaniam explained to Food & Wine.
Where EWG and its critics part ways is on the question of regulatory safety. The EWG argues that EPA safety thresholds are often outdated and don’t account for the combined effects of multiple pesticides. They also point out that some chemicals approved for use in the U.S. have been banned in the European Union for safety reasons. Among those flagged are bifenthrin, trifluralin, and flufenacet. The group also notes that children are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposure, with risks including birth defects, low birth weight, developmental delays, and certain cancers, as highlighted by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
On the flip side, industry groups like the Alliance for Food and Farming and CropLife America argue that the mere presence of a residue does not mean something is unsafe. “The facts are that over 99% of tested produce falls well below the Environmental Protection Agency’s gold-standard safety limits,” a CropLife America spokesperson told CNN. They emphasize that farmers follow strict laws and regulations to ensure the safety of America’s food supply.
For those looking to minimize pesticide exposure, the EWG recommends choosing organic options for Dirty Dozen items when possible, or at least washing all produce thoroughly under running water for 20 seconds. The Clean Fifteen—this year including pineapple, sweet corn, avocados, papaya, onions, frozen sweet peas, asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, watermelon, mangoes, bananas, carrots, mushrooms, and kiwi—remains a safe bet, with nearly 60% of samples showing no detectable pesticide residues. Only 16% of Clean Fifteen samples had residues from two or more pesticides.
Ultimately, experts across the board agree on one thing: fruits and vegetables are the backbone of a healthy diet, and the benefits of eating them far outweigh the risks associated with pesticide exposure. As Subramaniam puts it, “The bottom line is that folks should still eat plenty of produce, whether organic or conventionally grown.” The key, it seems, is to stay informed, vary your choices, and wash your produce well. That way, you can savor your strawberries—and your spinach—without losing sleep over what might be hiding on their surface.