I’m fed up with talking about the weather, but I can console myself with the fact we have grabbed every opportunity so far and progress is not too bad.Pesticide residues found in organic food
MOST of the samples tested during monitoring of pesticide residues in food in the 27 EU Member States and EFTA states Norway and Iceland complied with legal maximum residue levels (MRLs), according to the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) first annual report on pesticide residues in food.
However four per cent of samples tested during the 2007 monitoring programme exceeded legal MRLs and pesticide residues were also detected in organically-produced food.
In the report EFSA points out that no specific pesticide residue limits for organic products are currently established within the EU and so the same levels as conventional products were applied. The monitoring revealed two samples of organically-produced cereals and 26 samples of organically-produced fruit and vegetables contained pesticide residues above MRLs (0.62 and 1.09 per cent of samples respectively). Not all Member States reported results for organic food.
In total, more than 74,000 samples of 350 different types of food were analysed for pesticide residues. Residues of 354 different pesticides were found in measurable quantities in fruit and vegetables, while residues of 72 different pesticides were recorded in cereals.
The monitoring also revealed that MRLs were exceeded more frequently in produce imported from Third Countries.
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