The poor performance of winter lettuce growers in terms of their pesticide use is not acceptable, the Fresh Produce Consortium said this week. The comments followed the publication of Defra’s programme to monitor residue levels and the use of illegal pesticides in lettuce grown under cover in the UK during the winter. The results showed that 8.7 per cent of samples contained residues exceeding statutory MRLs or international guidelines and 5.6 per cent contained residues of non-approved substances.

"Year after year, growers of winter lettuce continue to record non-approved pesticide uses and exceedances of statutory MRLs," said an FPC spokesman. "This has been during a time when the rest of the industry in the UK and overseas is making serious and sustained efforts to adjust their production practices to accommodate the loss of actives and a reduction in MRLs. The performance of winter lettuce growers is quite unacceptable."

A total of 161 samples were collected from growers , nurseries and retail outlets as part of the Defra enforcement programme.

The FPC has recently published a revised code of practice on pesticides.

Topics