by Oscar Puntel
Foods produced inEuropean Union are secure: 97% of the samples collected and analyzed by EFSA, the Brussels Food Safety Authority, are free of pesticide residues or, if they show traces, these are within the legal limits. The latest report by this organization (2014) says so, which sifted through 83 foods from the 28 member countries, plus Iceland and Norway.
So can we say that European food is safe? "Given these data, I would say to rest assured," he explains Agostino Macrì, university professor expert in food safety, who for many years worked at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità on these topics.
"We specify: in agriculture, pesticides can be used, however the laws provide for a very precise and rigid disciplinary: they cannot be used in a certain period of the growth of the plant and, in any case, the treatment must be interrupted before the fruit is harvested.
Furthermore, EFSA studies each in detail pesticide used in crops. Try to understand if it affects humans and in what dose it becomes harmful. If it's carcinogenic, it banishes it. If it detects effects, it sets a quantitative limit, within which it is allowed without there being any problems for humans ", specifies the expert.
Continue to browse the article, you will find our expert's advice for bringing safe fruit and vegetables to the table.
November 2016
