German health authorities notified the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) that they detected the presence of chlorothalonil, a fungicide that is considered carcinogenic, in melons imported from Costa Rica via the Netherlands.
Authorities detected that the melons had 0.08 mg/kg-ppm residues of chlorothalonil when its maximum residue limit is set at 0.01 mg/kg-ppm. According to information shared by RASFF and taken up by Hortoinfo, "the product is (probably) no longer on the market."
The use of chlorothalonil was banned by the European Commission (EC) in April 2020, following a review by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), for causing DNA damage, presenting a high risk for amphibians and fish and, above all, for being strongly linked to the disappearance of bees, bumblebees, and other pollinators.
