Strawberries are worst for pesticides

You might want to give that punnet of strawberries a good wash before you tuck in - or better still, go organic. Strawberries contain more pesticide residue of any other produce, according to the US 2016 Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Shopper's Guide.

See also: Six foods that look healthy but aren't

Some 98% of strawberries tested in the US contained detectable pesticide residues – and it's a similar story here. Last year, tests in Britain showed that strawberries are more likely to contain pesticides than any other type of food.

A study by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) found that all the strawberries tested in the UK contained traces of at least one pesticide, compared with a European Union average of 78 per cent. What's worse, 2.2 per cent of the British strawberry samples tested were above the legal limit.

Some of the chemicals found on the fruit have been linked to a number of serious health conditions including cancer, hormone disruption and developmental damage.

"It is startling to see how heavily strawberries are contaminated with residues of hazardous pesticides, but even more shocking is that these residues don't violate the weak U.S. laws and regulations on pesticides in food," said Sonya Lunder, EWG Senior Analyst who carried out the latest study.

"Fruits and vegetables are important for your health," adds Lunder. "But for those on the Dirty Dozen, we recommend buying the organic versions if you want to avoid pesticides on your food."

In case you're wondering, here are the 12 worst offenders:

1.Strawberries
2.Apples
3.Nectarines
4.Peaches
5.Celery
6.Grapes
7.Cherries
8.Spinach
9.Tomatoes
10.Peppers
11.Cherry tomatoes
12.Cucumbers