Freshfel Europe, the European fresh produce association, has hit out at scaremongering tactics of some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to influence the current political discussions on future authorisation rules for pesticides with unnecessary alarming news on pesticide residues.
On Wednesday, some NGOs released figures of the upcoming European Commission report on the 2006 pesticide residues monitoring programme, suggesting that 49 per cent of the food samples tested had detectable residues, of which 4.7 per cent above the Maximum Residue Level (MRL).
Freshfel strongly refutes claims suggesting half of fruit and vegetables in the EU are contaminated with pesticide residues. For enforcement reasons, control agencies take more samples of food items that are expected to contain pesticides or to exceed MRLs, the figures are thus not representative of the actual market situation.
Moreover since the report covers 2006, many MRL-exceedances can be attributed to non-standardised MRLs in the EU. This commercial problem has been solved since 1 September 2008 with the full implementation of regulation that harmonises all MRLs in the EU.
A Freshfel release said: “Consumer safety risk assessments have demonstrated that the presence of some residues in food does not put consumers at risk. It cannot be stressed strongly enough that products exceeding legal limits are unacceptable to all operators in the food chain even if this does not necessarily imply a particular health risk. A plethora of controls are already in place to verify that these products do not reach the consumer. The sector remains committed to achieving low levels of residues and producers multiply efforts towards integrated production.”
Frédéric Rosseneu, food safety adviser at Freshfel Europe, added: “While we understand that consumers would prefer not to have any residues at all in their food, this is not always possible in practice.
“Confidence in the safety of fruits and vegetables must not be eroded given the overwhelming health benefits a diet rich in fruits and vegetables brings and its role in combating obesity and related disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, liver diseases, etc.”
According to Philippe Binard, general delegate of Freshfel Europe, “improving the diets of Europe’s citizens could have huge financial benefits, as the social and health costs relating to obesity across Europe amount to €150 billion each year”.
Freshfel acknowledges the need to update EU pesticide legislation, to provide for a continued high level of consumer protection. Binard said: “We support the Member States’ compromise which provides appropriate health and environmental protection, and are continuing to work constructively to achieve a satisfying result for all stakeholders in the European Parliament.”
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