The EU food safety system has received a record-high number of notifications of pesticide residues found in food products imported from Turkey in the first half of the year. Approximately 259 notifications were submitted to the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF).
The most common fruits and vegetables with pesticide residues were lemon (65), grapefruit (58), pepper (56) and mandarin (24), according to the system. The others include orange, pomegranate, vine leaves, quince, tomato, watermelon, parsley, grape and pear.
The 372 notifications submitted to the system in the entire last year was already about three times the average of the previous three years, according to the No Pesticides on My Plate Platform, an EU-funded project run by the Buğday Association for Supporting Ecological Living and PAN Europe.
Source: m.bianet.org