Fruits and veggies that you DON'T NEED to buy organic

I don't like to spend extra money on food when it's not necessary and I'm aware of most food scams around so I always read the labels and try to figure out what kind of food I have in front. Unfortunately, fresh foods don't have a label and all you know is where the food is coming from. This is also why it is important to get informed about the conditions in which the produce is grown. Here in Italy, for example, the south is considered the garden of Italy. Fresh foods from the south are sold all around Italy and many of them are exported to other European countries and all around the world. Despite this, I never buy fresh produce, tomato sauce or mozzarella di bufala (buffalo mozzarella cheese) from Campania region (Naples region). Not even if it's certified organic! I'm not sure if you heard about the illegal toxic waste dumping and burning in Campania which releases dioxins in the atmosphere. Believe it or not, a great part of the population (kids included) get cancer for breathing toxic air, drinking toxic water and consuming toxic food. Kids are born with respiratory problems and other health issues. Countries such as South Korea and Japan identified this pollution and consequently banned imports of buffalo milk from the region. Unfortunately, not all the countries did the same and you can find many Italian products all around the world. If you go to a store in Germany, for example, you'll still find tomato sauce imported from Italy. Tomato sauce is almost always imported form Italy. This is why I invite you to read the labels very closely. If a food has the "certified organic" logo, it still doesn't mean it's safe!! But not all the Italian products are toxic. You should look for the region in which the produce was GROWN. The region/ city in which the produce was processed is irrelevant. 

In general, if the produce is grown in "healthy" conditions it can still get affected by pesticides and chemicals that are used on non-organic fruits and veggies. But there are some foods, that have a thicker skin and the pulp can't get in contact with these pesticides. Plus, you discard the skin so there should be no worries. There are also veggies that don't attract pests due to their sulfur content so they don't get treated with chemicals and pesticides.

So here are the conventionally grown foods that you don't need to buy organic:

avocados

bananas

oranges

grapefruits

pineapple

mangoes

kiwi

cantaloupe

melons

papayas

sweet potatoes

mushrooms

winter squash

sweet corn

broccoli

cabbage

onions

garlic

sweet peas

asparagus

eggplant

#pesticides #chemicals #organic #freshproduce

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