INDIANAPOLIS — “Eat your fruits and vegetables.”

“Fruit. It’s nature’s candy.”

And, of course, “An apple a day helps keep the doctor away.”

We’ve all heard the slogans and sayings and we know the bottom line: Fruits and vegetable are good for you.

That said, are all fruits and vegetables equally good for you? A study by the Environemtal Working Group suggests that might not be the case.

The group this week released its 2018 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, and an accompanying list of the “Dirty Dozen” fruits and vegetables with the highest quantities of pesticide levels, as wells as its “Clean Fifteen” list of those items on which few, if any, pesticide residues were detected.

At the top of the “Dirty Dozen” list are strawberries, spinach and nectarines. And several items commonly grown in Indiana — including tomatoes, apples and potatoes — also find themselves on the report’s “Dirty Dozen.”

The nonprofit still encourages individuals to eat fruits and vegetables and more of them for their known health benefits, but says it wants to help shoppers choose healthy produce while minimizing their exposure to pesticides.

Hence, the group’s “Clean Fifteen,” which includes two items frequently grown by Hoosier farmers: sweet corn and cantaloupe.  Avocados, pineapple and broccoli also made that list.

The group’s analysis draws on nearly 39,000 USDA tests of 47 fruits and vegetables. Among its findings, according to the report, are that nearly 70 percent of “conventionally grown produce” has pesticides and almost all — 98 percent — of strawberries, peaches, nectarines, cherries and apples contained at least one pesticide.

Still, some are skeptical about the conclusions of the report.

Fred Whitford, a professor within Purdue University’s agriculture program, said these results need to be put into context. He acknowledges that there are pesticides on many produce, but said it is not above the federally defined safety levels for the chemicals.

“Any time you take a simple approach and say you have residues on these foods, it draws attention to it,” said the expert within the Purdue Extension’s Pesticides Program. “But for many, it will then put a level of fear into them and then people could make a choice not to eat fruits and vegetables.”

“People should be educated,” he added, “not scared.”

The pesticide products, whether synthetic or organic, are very expensive, according to Whitford, and so farmers try to avoid using them if possible and to grow their crops in as “undisturbed” of an environment as possible. Instead, his program works with farmers to research and use other tools to reduce and balance pressures from bugs, weeds and disease.

This includes picking a variety of produce that would face less disease, for example, or planting at a time that would beat the bugs.

“There are many techniques we can use, but in spite of that, mother nature has a way of hitting us hard,” Whiteford told IndyStar. “So then that’s when we use these products because have no other choices or we could lose crop.”

Farmers in Indiana and around the country are working to bring the best and most wholesome produce to consumers’ tables, especially as farmers’ market season gets underway. Everyone should make sure to wash their produce — for dirt and bacteria as much as pesticides, Whitford said — and then take care of and store it properly to keep eating fruits and vegetables as safe as possible.

Here are the lists in full:

The Dirty Dozen:

1. Strawberries

2. Spinach

3. Nectarines

4. Apples

5. Grapes

6. Peaches

7. Cherries

8. Pears

9. Tomatoes

10. Celery

11. Potatoes

12. Sweet bell peppers

Plus: Hot peppers

The Clean Fifteen

1. Avocados

2. Sweet corn

3. Pineapples

4. Cabbages

5. Onions

6. Sweet peas, frozen

7. Papayas

8. Asparagus

9. Mangoes

10. Eggplants

11. Honeydew melons

12. Kiwis

13. Cantaloupes

14. Cauliflower

15. Broccoli

Source: IndyStar