Apples are among the most consumed fruits in Europe. Their local production has intensified over the last decades and their production methods heavily rely on pesticides. Conventional apples are sprayed on average around 30 times a year with pesticides.
Jointly with 13 partner organisations in 13 European countries, we have analysed pesticide residues in 59 samples of locally produced apples. Nearly all (93%) apple samples contained at least one residue of pesticide and 85% of the samples contained multiple residues of pesticides. Some samples contained up to 7 different pesticide residues.
The authors of this report are concerned by the fact that apples are contaminated with pesticides that are considered as highly toxic. The EU category of the most toxic pesticides (namely Candidates for Substitution) contaminate 71% of the samples, while 64% of the samples contain at least one PFAS pesticide. Neurotoxic pesticides were found on 36% of the samples.
The report underlines the issue of multiple exposure, that is not taken into account in the regulatory process. Pesticides are still risk assessed in silo, but the cocktail (synergistic) effect of pesticides is mostly disregarded. Mounting scientific evidence points at the potential impact of exposure to multiple residues of pesticides via food, in particular on reproductive diseases. The Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) regulation (EC) 396/2005 nevertheless foresees that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) develops a methodology to take into account the risk of multiple exposure. Twenty years later, it is still not the case. The authors of this report regret a lack of prioritisation on this important topic.
Finally, a striking outcome of this study is that, if they were sold as processed baby food, 93% of the apple samples would not be allowed, as they exceed the legal limit of 0.01 mg/kg. The EU has indeed set strict limits for children under the age of 3, in order to protect their development.
The authors of this report recommend parents to give priority to organic apples, when feeding their children, and to peel them if they are non-organic. They also request decision makers to better implement the law, as a series of found substances should have been banned, because of their intrinsic toxicity, according to EU law. They also request to speed up the development of a methodology to take into account exposure to multiple pesticides via food, and, in the meantime, to set a safety factor of 10, to increase consumer protection. This report shows how much a better implementation of EU law is crucially needed, in contrast with the current proposal from the European Commission, via an Omnibus regulation on food and feed safety that will lower the level of protection of citizens and the environment.
