The naming and shaming policy adopted in the UK on pesticide residues is to be taken up in Germany. Retailers there have been told by government that a number of active substances currently being widely used on fruit and vegetables will be banned in a week, 18 months ahead of new EU regulations.

Francisco Contreras of German retailer Edeka said the move has been made to regulate the responsibility of retailers to ensure no harm is done to public health. 'I am worried about what will happen,' he said. 'We will have to publicly declare anything that is outside the regulatory limits.' He estimated that as much as 80 per cent of his product might fall outside the limits at present levels and called on seed companies and suppliers to 'solve the problem for me'.

Contreras was taking part in a retail discussion group at last week's Syngenta tomato conference in Alicante. Richard Hind, pictured, head of vegetables and salads at Waitrose told the Alicante audience: 'It is the responsibility of every supermarket to know and understand their growers thoroughly. We then have to both understand the consumer we serve. If you understand your consumer completely, you should be providing them with wholesome, safe food and that means without residues.

'Going back a few years, tomatoes were grown for yield, shelf life, anything except for the consumer. Now that they are being grown for the consumer, we should all be able to get a fair price by understanding what the consumer will pay and based on that, what is a reasonable return for each member of the supply chain.'

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