Food Safety Problem in Taiwan: excessive pesticide residue of veg and fruits

                                                       

In Taiwan, tests have been carried out on fruit and vegetables sold at supermarkets to assess the pesticide residue on the produce. 69% of the samples tested contained pesticide reside and 12% shows excessive residue.

Forty-five of the 65 vegetable and fruit products collected from brick-and-mortar and digital outlets of the nation’s major supermarket chains, including RT-Mart, Pxmart, Carrefour, Matsusei, Wellcome, A. Mart, Costco and FamilyMart, contained pesticide residues.

Among them, pesticides officially designated as highly toxic by the Council of Agriculture were found in 11 products, while excessive residue levels were discovered in eight products, with a prohibited chemical found in one product.

RT-Mart, Matsusei, Carrefour, Wellcome and A. Mart last year pledged to stop selling products found to contain the officially designated highly toxic chemicals, but some of those chemicals were still found in products sold at these stores.

                                 

Grapes sold by A. Mart’s digital outlet were found to contain a mixture of 13 pesticides, which Greenpeace said could expose consumers to a cocktail effect of harmful chemicals.

Sweet potato leaves sold at a Carrefour outlet were found to contain traces of highly toxic pesticide, Methomyl, while a green pepper was found to contain levels of Difenoconazole residue, that were seven times the council’s permitted levels.

                            

Greenpeace project manager, Lo Ko-jung, said “Local agriculture is still heavily dependent on pesticideS. Major supermarket outlets have failed in their role as a gatekeeper and continue to sell products containing highly toxic pesticides.”