A study in Turkey to determine the amounts of pesticide residues left over from the cultivation of fruit and vegetables, revealed that many foods contain above the maximum limit specified in legislation.
According to data from the Akdeniz University based Centre for Food Safety and Agriculture Research collected in 2013 and 2014 from the Antalya study centre, showed that essential produce such as tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines, strawberries and oranges had high levels of pesticide residues.
For example in 2013 of a random selection of 400 different fruit and vegetables from district markets, 21% had pesticide residues above the upper limit specified value; an close examination of 309 food products in 2014 found that 25% contained pesticide residues above the upper legal limit.
Pesticide residue found in more than one product from the results obtained in this study demonstrate major differences compared to the values obtained as a result of audit work carried out routinely by the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry.
Over the limit
In 2013, 163 tomatoes, 82 green peppers, 91 cucumbers, 25 courgettes and 39 strawberries made up the 400 items in the random sample, of which 21% had over the legislatively specified levels of pesticide. In the period of 2014 analysis was conducted on 106 tomatoes, 53 green peppers, 37 cucumbers, 22 courgettes, 21 strawberries, 16 aubergines and 54 oranges, made up the sample of 309 pieces of which 25% had over the limit of pesticide residue.
Of analyzed tomato samples in 2013, 6% were determined to contain pesticide residues above the maximum residue limits, while in 2014, the figure was 12%.
For the same years, the rates for green peppers were 31% and 30%, courgettes 40% and 36%, strawberries 10% and 5%, aubergines 19%, oranges 24%.
Deputy Director Asst. Assoc. Dr. Bulent Sik made a statement on behalf of the team conducting the study at the Akdeniz University Food Safety and Agricultural Research Center, according to him even toxic chemicals under the maximum residue limit values can have adverse health effects. In the last few years, Sik states that pesticides are causing the death of bees, “A chemical called neonikotinoid present in pesticides is toxic to bees. In our study on the samples of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers we found that 40% contained at least one strand of the neonikotinoid pesticide.”
