Food safety
Almost everything on Sprig is built on fresh produce, and a lot of it is eaten raw. Here is the one thing worth knowing about that.
Cyclospora, and why rinsing is not enough
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that gets onto fresh produce through contaminated water, and swallowing even a little of it can cause weeks of watery diarrhea, stomach cramps and exhaustion. In the US, outbreaks are usually traced back to imported fresh herbs, berries, salad leaves and snow peas. Rinsing washes off dirt but does not reliably wash off Cyclospora, so a rinse on its own is not protection. Cooking does kill it, which makes heat the one thing you can rely on when you are unsure about an ingredient. If a stomach illness drags on for more than a few days after you have eaten raw produce, see a doctor: it is treated with a specific antibiotic and rarely clears up quickly by itself.
Worth buying organic
If you buy some produce organic and some not, this is where the money goes furthest. It is worked out from the same catalog as everything else on this page: the fruit and vegetables our recipes actually call for, checked against the Environmental Working Group's annual testing of pesticide residues.
EWG's Dirty Dozen, the produce their testing finds carries the most pesticide residue. These are the ones our recipes use. Our recipes that just say “mixed berries” are included: strawberries, blueberries and blackberries are each on the list, so whichever you pick up the answer is the same.
- Potatoes7% of recipes
- Spinach5% of recipes
- Berries2% of recipes
- Kale, collard and mustard greens1% of recipes
- Pears1% of recipes
- Strawberries1% of recipes
Save your money
EWG's Clean Fifteen, consistently the lowest residues, and most of them had none detectable at all. Our recipes lean heavily on this list, so most weeks the organic decision barely comes up.
- Onions 33%
- Carrots 12%
- Mushrooms 8%
- Avocados 3%
- Bananas 3%
- Cauliflower 2%
- Frozen sweet peas 2%
- Mangoes 2%
- Cabbage 1%
- Pineapple 1%
- Sweet corn 1%
- Watermelon 1%
Worth saying plainly: this is a guide to where organic buys you the most, not a warning that the rest is unsafe. Residues found in testing are generally well below regulatory limits, and the ranking method has its critics for not weighting by dose. Eating more vegetables matters more than which ones you buy organic, so if the choice is conventional spinach or no spinach, buy the spinach.
Source: 2026 EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce, Environmental Working Group. Dirty Dozen™, Clean Fifteen™ and Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ are trademarks of the Environmental Working Group. Sprig is not affiliated with EWG and does not reproduce their guide: we name the items that appear in our own recipes and link to the source.
Food safety
Prepare and store food safely: wash produce, keep raw and cooked foods separate, cook ingredients thoroughly, and refrigerate leftovers promptly. Some ingredients require specific handling to be safe to eat. Follow the steps in each recipe and use your own judgement.
This page is general information, not medical advice. If you are unwell, speak to a doctor. Get in touch if you think anything here is wrong.