Little pesticide residues in seasonal vegetables

Seasonal vegetables contain less pesticide residues than seasonal produce

18/12/2014

Seasonal, regional vegetables offer significant advantages in terms of pesticide contamination compared to imported, aseasonal goods, according to a recent test by the environmental organization Global 2000 and the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labor (AKNÖ).

Together with the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labor, GLOBAL 2000 has examined the fruit and vegetable ingredients of two different Christmas menus for pesticide residues, with one menu composed entirely of seasonal, regional fruits and vegetables and the other made from imported goods that are spread across our latitudes Winter does not thrive. For example, be here „Tomatoes from Morocco, Fisoles from Egypt, Italian chopped salad, grapes from Turkey, blueberries from Argentina or cherries from Chile“ According to information from the environmental protection organization, the seasonal domestic crop products outperformed the aseasoned imported goods.

Regional and seasonal vegetables hardly burdened
„It is pleasing that regional and seasonal fruits and vegetables consistently had a very low level of pesticides“, reports Waltraud Novak, test director of the environmental organization GLOBAL 2000. So 80 percent of the products would contain no or only one pesticide active ingredient. Completely different is the situation with non-seasonal products. Here is „not a single sample pool free of active ingredients“ been. „In the pool of grapes even 12 pesticides were detected“, so Global 2000 continues. An average of 5.3 active ingredients per product have been detected in the asaisonale menu, „while on the seasonal average, only 1.1 active ingredients were found.“

Exceeding the limit of an aseasonal product
The highest total pesticide exposure, according to the environmental organization, was a sample of rocket from Italy containing over ten milligrams of pesticides per kilogram. Overall, the average pesticide exposure in the as-seasonal product pools reached 1.2 milligrams per kilogram, while the seasonal menu was only 0.05 milligrams per kilogram, Global 2000 reports. In addition, asseptic vegetables have exceeded the legal limit Service. In young onions from Italy, the testers found too high levels of the active ingredient chlorpyrifos. Furthermore, in two products, maximum value overruns were found within the tolerance for analysis, namely in arugula and parsley from Italy, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Inadequate identification of origin
The home-grown winter vegetables are not only convincing due to their great variety of flavors, they also score with clearly lower pesticide residues and lower CO2 pollution, explains AKNÖ expert Helmut Bohacek. In addition, the labeling of the origin of imported products is sometimes very poor. Mostly on the shelves only „Origin see label“, but „On the labels you often have to search proverbially with the magnifying glass to find a clue, where the product really comes from“, so the criticism of Bohcek. Here are urgently consumer-friendly, uniform labeling required.

Local seasonal fruits and vegetables with benefits for the carbon footprint
just the higher pesticide load also a significantly worse CO2 balance than seasonal goods. Because the transport and the mode of production are causing enormous CO2 consumption. „The kilo cherries from Chile needed over 26 kg of CO2 equivalent for their transport by plane. This corresponds to about 150 km driving“, explains Dr. Waltraud Novak. Even with domestic production of the asaisonal products (for example, strawberries, raspberries and tomatoes) by growing in heated glasshouses up to 30 times higher CO2 emissions than if they would grow in the season in the field, the expert continues , From an environmental point of view, according to the announcement of Global 2000, therefore, the tripartite combination of „Organic - seasonal - regional“ best - so local, seasonal vegetables from organic farming. (Fp)