Less pesticide in food

Constant low pesticide contamination in food

04/14/2015

In the year 2013, the residues of pesticides in food remained at a consistently low level throughout Germany, according to the results of the „National reporting of pesticide residues in food 2013“ of the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL). However, imported goods were much more often exposed to a critical load than food produced in Germany.

Only 1.1 percent of the products produced in Germany were found to exceed their respective MRLs in 2013, according to the notification of the BVL. Goods from other EU countries had a similarly low burden - in 2013, 0.9 percent of the samples tested were found to exceed the MRL. „The burden on goods imported from outside the EU is still significantly higher (6.5 percent)“, reports the Federal Office of Consumer Protection ...

Imported foods are not worse per se
Although some six to seven times more than the maximum levels were measured in imported products from third countries, „most foods from third countries are not worse per se“, so the president of the BVL, Dr. Helmut Tschiersky. Unfortunately, a few products such as black or green tea, passion fruit and fresh herbs are still 20 percent and more affected by MRLs. However, many other imported foods, such as pears, potatoes, raisins, kiwi, melons and all animal foods studied, did not exceed their limits.

Individual active ingredients particularly noticeable
The Federal Office of Consumer Protection further reports that not only a differentiated view of the food groups and the origin of the products is required, but also a differentiation of the various pesticide active ingredients. In total, 17,437 samples of foodstuffs of plant and animal origin, as well as infant and toddler food, were examined in 2013 for the presence of pesticide residues by the provincial food and veterinary inspection bodies. Burdens with 833 different active substances were analyzed. However, complaints about MRLs were reported only for 91 active substances (10.9 percent). Accordingly, almost 90 percent of all active ingredients were not conspicuous, according to the statement of the BVL .

Organic food significantly less burdened
The most controlled products were according to the BVL „Strawberries (873 samples), Me and Dairy Products (683), Apples (620) and Potatoes (564).“ Overall, 36.1 percent of all samples had no residue in quantifiable amounts. „In 61.8 percent of the samples, the residues found were below the existing maximum residue levels“ and „in 2.1% of all samples, the residues exceeded the applicable maximum level“, so the message of the Federal Office for consumer protection. Foods from organic farming have done particularly well, showing significantly less pesticide residues than conventionally produced goods. So have the „The proportion of samples with residues above the maximum residue levels in organic foods is further reduced“ and „while it was 0.7 and 0.8 percent of samples in the past two years, in 2013 it exceeded only 0.5 percent of cases“, reports the BVL. (Fp)