Multiple pesticide residues detected in convenience store produce, raising food safety concerns
Greenpeace Taiwan, China announced on the 8th the results of fresh produce tests of 58 items sampled from chain supermarkets at the end of last year. Pesticide residues of 36 different pesticides were detected in 43 of the produce items. Among them, 25 items were found to contain more than 3 different pesticides, and one sample of kumquat was found to contain residues of 9 pesticides. Greenpeace demanded that supermarkets commit to eliminating highly toxic pesticides from fresh products and establish traceability systems and oversight measures for fresh produce.
Greenpeace commissioned an independent third-party laboratory to sample and test 58 items of commonly eaten produce sold in supermarkets, including Chinese cabbage, bok choy, cabbage, white radish, oranges, apples and strawberries, in December of last year. The sampling locations included 8 stores of 6 major chain supermarket operators: RT-Mart, Carrefour, PX Mart, Far Eastern Ai Mai, Wellcome and Songqing. The tests also detected many highly toxic pesticides. For example, samples of chives from RT-Mart and mustard greens from Ai Mai were found to contain the pesticides carbofuran and methomyl, which the Council of Agriculture has declared "highly toxic"; Greenpeace also detected the pesticides cyflumetofen and difenoconazole, which must not be used on leafy vegetables, in chives from Wellcome and mustard greens from Ai Mai.
Residues of several pesticides classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "highly hazardous" were also detected in these produce samples, including some that are not banned domestically but have been discontinued in the European Union, such as phosmet and carbofuran. In addition, chives sold by Carrefour were found to contain benomyl, a pesticide that may affect the reproductive system, at 2.7 times the permitted level.
Greenpeace questioned that even if pesticide residues do not exceed the permitted tolerance levels, the "cocktail effect" produced by mixing multiple pesticides may harm human health, and the risk may exceed that of poisoning by a single pesticide.
Single pesticide residues within limits Multiple residues still legal
Do multiple pesticide residues increase health risks? Feng Haidong, deputy director of the Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, said the possibility cannot be ruled out.
Feng Haidong said the Department of Health sets standards only for individual pesticide residues, each having gone through layer upon layer of filtering, with safety factors already enlarged a hundredfold or a thousandfold, so the standards set should be fine; however, when multiple pesticides are mixed and used, whether the results are consistent is a matter on which there are differing views internationally, and related research has already begun. Similar domestic research has also started, and the government has begun to pay attention to this possibility; research results will be taken into consideration in setting standards.
It is understood that pesticide use must go through applications by farmers for field trials to establish safe harvest amounts and tolerance levels before residue tolerances are announced; and in terms of food safety standards, the Department of Health's "Standards for Pesticide Residue Tolerances in Food" sets standards only for individual pesticide residues. Even if vegetables carry residues of multiple pesticides, as long as none of them exceeds the residue limit, they are still legal.
Take the kumquat in which 9 pesticide residues were detected this time as an example: because the planting area is small, there is currently no specified pesticide residue tolerance for it, but since kumquat belongs to the citrus genus, the pesticide dosage for any citrus species applies, for example, tankan orange. However, the way tankan orange is used differs from kumquat; for example, tankan orange is not eaten with the peel, and after peeling there may be no pesticide residue, whereas kumquat is eaten whole. Without going through the relevant application process, it is difficult to reach a conclusion.
In addition, residue of 9 pesticides does not mean the farmer used 9 pesticides at once; it may be that different pesticides were applied at different stages of the kumquat's growth, and these pesticide residues persist for a relatively long time, so that multiple pesticide residues were still present at the store. For the sake of farmers' safety, it would be best to understand farmers' pesticide use habits and provide guidance when necessary.
Corporate testing standards can be tightened Make good use of contracts for self-protection
This sampling showed that large supermarkets have raised a red flag in safeguarding consumer food safety. Cai Siting, director of Greenpeace's agriculture project, said food safety is a basic consumer right, and supermarkets should shoulder corporate responsibility and strictly guard the gate, establish a complete traceability system and oversight measures, and give priority to eliminating the use of more harmful pesticides at the source of produce production, so as to safeguard consumers' food safety.
Well-known chain operator Songqing Supermarket also had two fresh produce items found with pesticide residues in this sampling. Although not necessarily illegal, it severely damaged the company's image. Chen Shuiyuan, manager of the planning section, said that before shipment from the production area they first conduct a "Green Shield rapid test" to confirm there is no problem before acceptance; these agricultural products are then gathered at the Wugu PC plant, where the same procedure is done again, and only after confirming they meet standards do they enter the display area. Regarding the pesticide residues detected this time, Chen Shuiyuan said that perhaps some components could not be detected in the two tests, and afterward they would think from the consumer side about how to overcome this problem. "The situation of farmers using pesticides is simply too common!" Chen Shuiyuan felt very helpless.
In response, the Pesticide Management Section (hereinafter the Agricultural Management Section) of the Plant Quarantine Division of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) of the Executive Yuan said that agricultural product testing methods fall into two types: chemical methods and biochemical methods. Chemical testing takes a longer time, but can measure pesticide components and doses, with relatively accurate results, and is a nationally recognized testing method; the Green Shield rapid test belongs to the biochemical method and can only detect whether organophosphorus compounds (Organophosphorus) and carbamates (Carbamates), two types of highly toxic insecticides that inhibit nerve transmission, are present. It is faster, but not accurate enough; manufacturers can only use it for self-management, and it cannot serve as testing evidence.
However, according to an investigation report released by the Control Yuan yesterday (the 8th), pesticide residue testing and analysis lasting as long as 20 working days failed to reflect pesticide test results in time, so that before the pesticide test results came out, more than 80% of the produce had already been harvested, including non-compliant produce, which according to regulations must not be harvested, yet flowed into the market and ended up on the nation's dining tables. For this reason, the Control Yuan passed a correction against the Council of Agriculture. Jane Xiangling, marketing manager of Wellcome, which was also found with pesticide residues, said that fresh products selected and put on shelves all come with nationally recognized testing qualification certificates submitted by suppliers; each time the logistics center receives goods, it must reconfirm the test report before releasing them. In addition, every day it also conducts document checks by random sampling to confirm that the goods and the qualification certificates are from the same batch.
Regarding the detection of pesticide residues in goods, Jane Xiangling felt helpless: "These testing documents are all issued by nationally recognized laboratories." She believes the government's testing controls need to be further strengthened. She cited a previous case in which imported apples, although having passed customs inspection, were still found by a local government health bureau to have excessive pesticide residues.
"For imported produce, BAPHIQ only conducts batch sampling; unless there are safety concerns, it will not raise the sampling ratio," the Agricultural Management Section explained, and in the most serious cases even batch-by-batch testing. Once it passes sampling, it can enter the market for sale. After entering the store, health authorities still conduct irregular sampling, so it is possible that food that passed customs is still found to be non-compliant, in which case the manufacturer will be penalized under relevant laws and regulations.
With several large supermarkets facing testing mishaps, the Agricultural Management Section suggested that manufacturers, especially large supermarkets, should sign contracts with suppliers stating that the products provided must meet Taiwan's testing standards, and could even offer incentives to encourage suppliers to provide products above standard, so as to avoid breaking the law without knowing it; if a case of non-compliant testing occurs, they can demand contract performance or compensation for damages under civil law. The Agricultural Management Section cited mangoes from the mountainous area of Tainan exported to Japan as an example: Japanese people love to eat them and they fetch a good price, but to pass Japanese customs, in addition to domestic testing standards, they must also meet Japan's pesticide residue standards and related regulations, and all of this must be prepared in advance.
Department of Health pesticide residues consider only human safety
In fact, pesticides have the greatest impact on farmers' health, and consumers also come into contact with pesticide residues through their daily diet. Even long-term exposure to low doses of the chemicals may disrupt the endocrine system, cause damage to the nervous system, and even increase the risk of cancer.
In addition, pesticides cause chaos in ecosystems, indiscriminately killing good and bad bacteria, pests and beneficial insects alike. In view of this, it makes sense for Greenpeace to demand that supermarkets move ahead of the government and ban 5 major categories of pesticides: those announced as highly toxic by the Council of Agriculture, WHO Class I and Class II toxicity, reproductive toxicity, and those harmful to bees.
Taiwan currently has 364 approved and registered active ingredients. The Agricultural Management Section said that from these ingredients are made many pesticides in powder or liquid form, among which 24 are highly toxic finished pesticides. Highly toxic pesticides are not banned in Taiwan; only the intensity of management differs, and they can still be used within the tolerance range. The sale and use of highly toxic pesticides are subject to relevant regulations; for example, products must be placed in locked cabinets, and when selling, the buyer's purpose must be asked about in detail.
So-called banned pesticides refer to those announced as completely prohibited from sale and use; most illegal cases involve use on species for which they are not registered, which constitutes non-compliance with pesticide use regulations. Agricultural products before market launch are subject to agricultural regulations; once they enter the store, they are regarded as food and subject to the Department of Health's Food and Drug Administration Act; the produce sold in supermarkets tested by Greenpeace this time is subject to the Food and Drug Administration's "Standards for Pesticide Residue Tolerances in Food."
By entering the Food and Drug Administration website (http://www.fda.gov.tw/people_laws.aspx?peoplelawssn=1168&keyword=&classifysn=62) one can look up the permitted residue levels of relevant pesticides in food. The consultation hotline staff said that once something enters food, pesticide residue tolerances are discussed only in terms of effects on human health, without taking into account effects on other organisms. In this test by Greenpeace, imidacloprid (Imidacloprid) detected in jujubes is an insecticide, with a residue tolerance of 1.0 ppm (parts per million) for citrus, and dimethomorph (Dimethomorph) is a fungicide, with a residue tolerance of 0.01 ppm for other categories.
Farmers use pesticides to increase yields, but the ultimate purpose is to feed people and achieve good health. Setting aside whether using the chemicals is right or wrong, since the state has set pesticide residue tolerance standards, they should be regarded as a minimum moral threshold; there is no reason to cross this standard. Instead, the amount of chemicals used should be reduced as much as possible, benefiting both oneself and others. Just as students, in order to choose good educational resources, strive to achieve a perfect score even though 60 is a passing grade, Taiwan's agricultural pesticide use should indeed challenge itself: next time use less, rather than merely meeting a standard. And the reward for scoring high requires the joint effort of the whole society: care a little more about the food around us, supervise the government in implementing policies, encourage good manufacturers, and not forget to applaud farmers dedicated to environmentally friendly farming without chemicals.
6 supermarkets and stores: produce hides highly toxic pesticides
Well-known chain supermarkets sell produce with highly toxic pesticides: supermarkets should shoulder responsibility and strictly guard the gate, establish a complete traceability system and oversight measures