Foodwatch, a European NGO, have published their findings from an independent laboratory analysis of banned pesticide residues in 64 food samples, including products purchased in Austria, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
As Foodwatch highlight, the European Union appear to have strict rules to ensure that the pesticides that are most harmful for health and the environment are not approved for use on fields and that the presence of their residues on consumers’ plates is minimised (through EU Regulation 1107/2009 governing the approval and market access of pesticides active substances and EU Regulation 396/2005 on pesticides residue limits). Residues of pesticides that are not approved in the EU in daily food products are however still found. Loopholes in the existing legal framework allows the production of pesticides not approved in the EU to be traded with other parts of the world. European companies can therefore export substances that are known to have harmful effects on health or wildlife to third countries. In addition, residues of banned substances can come back in food through a dangerous ‘boomerang effect’ via imports of food from outside the European Union.
Out of the 64 samples tested, 49 samples contained residues of pesticides and 54 different pesticides substances were found, including 27 pesticide substances that are not approved at EU level, for a total of 293 detections. 14 out of the 64 samples contained residues of pesticides (whether approved or not) at levels above the legally allowed limit (maximum residue limit, or MRL).
The most contaminated items were spices (paprika powder, chili, cumin) and green tea. For several samples, multiple residues were detected. For instance, 7 to 22 different pesticides were detected in samples of paprika powder and all samples of paprika powder, chili and cumin contained one or more residues of non-approved pesticides.
The most detected residues of non-approved pesticides were: Chlorfenapyr, Bifenthrin, Spirotetramat, the three neonicotinoids Clothianidin, Thiamethoxam, Imidacloprid and the rice fungicide Isoprothiolane. For the full report see the link below.
