When a "Today Show" nutritionist advised viewers to avoid certain conventionally grown fresh produce items because they may be unsafe, it was "so over the top that we had to respond," said Teresa Thorne of the Alliance for Food & Farming.

The July 6 show featured New York nutritionist Joy Bauer, who listed the fruits and vegetables that contain the highest amounts of pesticide residues and urged consumers to buy only organically grown commodities for safety reasons. In the segment "Is Organic Worth the Extra Green?" Ms. Bauer called a "dirty dozen" list of fresh vegetables and fruits "must buys" for organics.

For these fruits and vegetables, the U.S. Department of Agriculture "found after diligent washing that these 12 items contained high amounts of pesticide residue," she said. Apples, nectarines, peaches, pears, cherries, grapes, raspberries and strawberries should be purchased as organic. For vegetables, bell peppers, celery, spinach and potatoes are top picks. "And as much as it pains me as a nutritionist to say this, when it comes to potatoes, if it's not organic, you want to lose the skin," she said.

But the alliance's Ms. Thorne said, "It's outlandish to say that some commodities should never be bought conventional," adding that if a mother sees a child's favorite fruit is not safe enough to be purchased as conventionally grown, then the mother may be scared away from serving it.

The California-based group fired off a letter to the "Today Show" listing the facts about pesticide regulation and urging the producers to broadcast a balanced segment on the benefits of all produce.

Formed in 1989, the alliance serves to educate the public on food safety and production issues with members that include commodity boards, farm groups and grower-shippers.

At the core of the nutritionist's must buy organic list is a report issued by the Environmental Working Group that targeted certain fresh fruits and vegetables for scoring pesticide residues after washing.

Ms. Thorne criticized the Washington, DC-based research group for taking a "simplistic approach" to analyzing residue data from USDA and the Food & Drug Administration. The media have been using the "dirty dozen" list in repeated stories. "Residue findings are going up, but detection is really going down," she said.

The Produce Marketing Association also issued a statement attacking the "Today Show" segment.

"PMA works aggressively to challenge misleading and incorrect public statements that call into question the safety and wholesomeness of produce such as was presented in this program," PMA President Bryan Silbermann said in a statement. "The program suggests that there are fruits and vegetables that consumers should always buy organic because their conventionally grown counterparts tend to be laden with pesticides. In reality, pesticides are subjected to hundreds of tests before they are approved for use," he said. "When the government sets residue tolerances, it builds in a safety buffer of at least 100- fold."

"It's irresponsible to scare consumers away from produce. We all need to be eating more produce, not less, especially with the obesity epidemic, particularly among children," said Kathy Means, PMA's vice president of government relations.

"Those who argue that consumers are at risk from the minuscule pesticide residues on fresh fruits and vegetables are ignoring the facts and are doing consumers a grave disservice," Ms. Means stressed.