Choosing Safer Products: Tips for Choosing Healthy Food

Infant formula

Choose powdered formula when possible.  Avoid liquid formula when you can because the cans are typically lined with BPA (bisphenol-A), a hormone-disrupting chemical. If you do need to use liquid formula, choose brands packaged in BPA-free plastic containers.

Read more about BPA in infant formula here, and see our tips on choosing safer baby bottles here.

Fruits and vegetables

Choose organic as often as you can, especially for these types that typically contain the highest levels of pesticide residues: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes (imported), spinach, lettuce, and potatoes. Consider organic options for prepared items like fruit juices, apple sauce, and frozen fruits and vegetables too.

For more information on pesticides in produce, including a handy shopping guide, see: Environmental Working Group: Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

Seafood

Fish is some of the healthiest food you can eat, but choose carefully because some types contain toxic chemicals such as mercury.

Safer seafood choices include wild salmon, sardines, anchovies, Atlantic herring, Dungeness crab, Pacific cod, Alaskan black cod, farmed striped bass, farmed catfish, clams, mussels, and Pacific oysters. When preparing fish, remove skin, trim the fat, and broil, bake, or grill fish so that the fat drips away.

Avoid bluefish, wild striped bass, American eel, spotted seatrout, marlin, king mackerel, shark, and swordfish. Women and children should not eat tilefish or tuna steaks, and should limit their consumption of canned tuna (find out how much you can eat with this Tuna Calculator).

Check with state advisories before eating sport-caught fish or shellfish.
For more information on healthy seafood choices, see Fish Facts for Healthy Nutrition (Washington State Department of Health) and Best and Worst Seafood (Environmental Defense).

Meat

Choose lean meat cuts, and buy organic meats if possible.
Cut off visible fat before cooking meat, and choose lower-fat cooking methods: broiling, grilling, roasting, or pressure-cooking. Avoid frying meat in lard, bacon grease, or butter.

Prepared foods

Limit your consumption of canned foods because the can linings typically contain estrogen-mimicking BPA (bisphenol-A), which may leach into food. Studies have found BPA in many canned foods, with canned soups and pasta containing the largest amounts of BPA. You can also choose canned items from companies, such as Eden Organics, that use BPA-free linings.

Avoid microwave popcorn: choose ready-to-eat popcorn or pop your own on the stove. The insides of microwavable popcorn bags are often coated with toxic chemicals (Teflon chemicals, or perfluorinated compounds), which may leach into the popcorn.