Pesticide shock: Cycling residues discovered in paprika powder!

Pesticide shock: Cycling residues discovered in paprika powder!

Spanien, Land - A current market check from Greenpeace has removed alarming results. A total of 37 different pesticides were detected in investigations of 13 conventional paprika. This includes substances that are already prohibited in the European Union. In two cases, the products clearly exceeded the legal limit values. The paprika powder "Las Hermanas Sharp" was strained 13 times more with anthrachinone than allowed, while the "Kotányi Paprika sharp" contained almost twice as much chlorfing apyr.

conventional samples showed between 10 and 19 different active ingredients that are connected to serious health risks such as nerve damage, hormone disorders and fertility impairments. It is particularly worrying that twelve of the pesticides found in the EU are no longer approved. Even in almost all samples, including biological products, chlorate occurred, which uses as a disinfectant, but is prohibited as a pesticide.

reactions and demands

Due to these surveys, Greenpeace asked politics to work for stricter controls at the EU level. Agriculture Minister Norbert Tettschnig and Minister of Health Korinna Schumann were asked to take measures to ensure that no pesticides banned in the EU are also tolerated in imported foods. In addition, an expansion of the samples of peppers is checked by 30 percent.

affected companies react differently. Kotányi called back his affected batch and examines the supply chain, while "Las Hermanas" doubts the measurement results and refers to his own quality controls. Food oven toxicologist Dr. Martin Hochegger also warns of possible interactions between the pesticides that are not sufficiently taken into account when admission.

further context information

The origin of the tested peppers is diverse. While many products come from Spain, peppers from Hungary, Peru and China were also identified. However, the problem of pesticides is not limited to paprika powder. In a broader analysis it was found that pesticides were detected in 41 percent of the samples of food. More than half of these cases shows a multiple burden of two or more active ingredients.

In another study, it turned out that there were 14 pesticides and tomatoes and wine each with strawberries. The transitions between biological and conventional agriculture are critical because chemical-synthetic pesticides are prohibited in ecological agriculture. In 79 percent of the rehearsals, no pesticide pollution was found in 79 percent of the rehearsals.

The European Union has so far not developed a suitable approval process that takes sufficient account of the so -called cocktail effect, i.e. unwanted combination effects. Consumers are therefore exposed to a daily variety of pesticides, and politics is asked to seriously intensify the measures for health protection and to support biological agriculture.