The Fresh Produce Consortium has responded swiftly to a damning article in the Daily Express on pesticide residues in school fruit and vegetables.
The School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) was given a clean bill of health by the Pesticide Residues Committee, in its April 19 report on monitoring activity for the scheme during the autumn term.
The testing programme involved 50 samples of fruit and vegetables collected between September and December last year: 12 apple samples, 12 banana samples, four carrot samples, five pears samples 11 soft citrus samples, and six tomato samples.
All the samples either had no detectable pesticide residues from those sought or contained residues below the maximum residue level (MRL).
“These results should be a cause for encouragement to the trade,” said FPC chief executive Nigel Jenney. “Unfortunately one national newspaper took up a Soil Association press release and produced an inflammatory and unbalanced front-page story.”
Jenney slated the tabloid’s coverage as “misleading...and scare-mongering journalism of the worst sort.”
He criticised the newspaper for using speculation and uncertainty as proof of “dangers” for children eating fruit from the SFVS. The article reported “cancer-causing chemicals found on food for children” and a “new alert over dangers in our fruit”.
The article, published last Friday, also quoted the UK Pesticides Campaign (UKPC). “The PRC continues to maintain that there are no safety concerns for children in relation to pesticide residues found in foods,” Georgina Downs of UKPC said. “Yet samples often contain multiple residues.”
Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director said: “We know that in combination apparently safe levels of pesticides can affect our bodies in ways that chemicals in isolation do not.”
The Express asked readers of its online edition: “Should children stop eating fruit altogether?”
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