The amount of fruits and vegetables sold in the UK that contain a pesticide “cocktail” has risen in the last year, with strawberries and lemons topping the list, an annual pesticide ranking list revealed.
The list called ‘Dirty Dozen’, which is compiled by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK) using government test data, ranks the fruits and vegetables that are most likely to contain a cocktail of pesticide residues, with the aim of helping to people. prioritize what to eat under an organic and non-organic diet.
The list of the 12 worst offenders was topped by strawberries, and nearly 90 percent of those tested contained residues of more than one pesticide.
Lemons and prepackaged salad leaves came in second and third, with pesticide cocktails found in more than 80 percent of the tests. Individual samples were found to contain residues of up to 14 different pesticides.
“Pesticide residues are nowhere to be found on food labels, so Dirty Dozen is the only way British consumers can get an idea of which pesticides appear in their food,” said Nick Mole, an officer of PAN UK policies. “Most of us cannot afford a completely organic diet, so we hope this information helps people determine which products to prioritize.”
Just under a third (32 percent) of all foods tested by the government in 2019 – including meat, fish, grains and dairy products – contained multiple pesticides, up from 23.5 percent the previous year.
In fruits and vegetables, 48 percent of those analyzed contained a mixture of pesticides, compared to 36 percent the previous year. The fruit was particularly tall, with 67% containing multiple pesticides, as were cereals, with 94% oatmeal and 27% bread.
Added Mole: “The Dirty Dozen reveals that pesticide cocktails are still extremely common in UK food and should be of deep concern to consumers.
“There is growing evidence that chemicals can be more harmful when combined, particularly for pregnant women and young children, but we continue to set safety limits for only one pesticide at a time.”
Despite attempts by regulators, PAN UK said it has proven impossible to create a system sophisticated enough to be able to assess the health impacts of long-term exposure to multiple pesticides.
The only way to minimize risk is to greatly decrease overall pesticide use, the organization said.
The news comes ahead of the government’s long-awaited National Action Plan on Sustainable Pesticide Use, to be released soon, to introduce a pesticide reduction target and increase financial and other support to British farmers to adopt non-sustainable alternatives. Chemicals.
