PAN Europe - Issues

Issues

Food Contamination
In 2007 the European Commission published the results of its own pesticides residues analysis. Of the 60,450 food samples sourced from across the 27 EU Member States, a staggering 40% were shown to contain detectable levels of pesticide residues. An additional 3% of samples contained levels of pesticides in excess of EC Maximum Residue Levels rendering their sale in the EU illegal.

Baby and apple

Fruit and vegetables were shown to be among the most heavily contaminated products, while even baby food contained significant levels of pesticide residues.

In total some 349 different pesticide residues were identified, with some individual food samples containing as many as 8 different contaminants. Worryingly, many of the most frequently found pesticide residues are known immunotoxins, neurotoxins or endocrine disruptors.

While EU food safety regulations set maximum pesticide levels, current risk assessments don't take into account the long-term impacts of exposure to multiple pesticides residues.

See also: Pesticides in Food factsheet (pdf)