EU-banned pesticides found in rice, tea and spices(www.foodwatch.org)

96 pointsby john-titor5 hours ago8 comments

nozzlegearan hour ago
The report itself[†] blames the pesticide residue on a "boomerang effect" from EU countries: EU countries export these banned pesticides to third countries, those countries use the banned pesticides on the food they grow, and then the EU countries import that food. In effect, EU companies are still profiting off of the sale and use of banned pesticides on food that Europeans will eat.
[†] https://www.foodwatch.org/fileadmin/-INT/pesticides/banned_p...
- LorenPechtel23 minutes ago
  Object on "blame"--it is actually only saying that this scenario is possible, it is not establishing that it actually is the cause.
kryptoncalm43 minutes ago
More relevant is that 14 out of 64 samples had levels above the legally allowed limit (MRL), of which 12 pesticides that are not approved in the EU (page 12 of report). This is more severe than products 'containing' pesticides, which could as well be advancements in measurement.
Problematic products are: Peppers, dried (6x), Cumin (3x), Rice grain (2x), Tea leaves and stalks (1x), Non-fermented tea leaves (1x), Mix of spices (1x).
amelius23 minutes ago
We're reaching the point where people need to install GC/MS systems in their homes in order to be safe from food hazards.
ofrzeta2 hours ago
For spices and tea it really makes sense to buy organic (not that there are no fraudsters but still).
- kuerbelan hour ago
  It also makes sense for anything coming out of third world countries, pesticides kill and harm lots of farmers there. https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/pesticides/pesticide-gian...
- darth_avocado17 minutes ago
  Organic is just green washing, it doesn’t mean no chemicals. Plenty of organic products contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Organic oats have been found to contain glyphosate. Organic spices have been found to contain heavy metals.
  - Saline95156 minutes ago
    Organic means that no non-organic pesticides have been used in production. There are still organic ones available, which are less dangerous. Especially to the farmers who are the first ones to get exposed to the poisons we spread on the fields.
- Jenssonan hour ago
  Just buy from places where these laws are in effect instead of imports from other countries where they legally use these pesticides.
andrewstuartan hour ago
I carefully check the label and try to only buy Australian made 100% food.
I never buy any food ever from China.
- CoastalCoderan hour ago
  Does that meaningfully restrict which foods / ingredients you can get?
  - andrewstuartan hour ago
    No. Australia produces vast variety of food everything you could want to eat aside from more exotic stuff.
stogot2 hours ago
Companies that poison the people like this should be sanctioned, along with their owners. Greed and profiteering
- flexagoonan hour ago
  They don't "poison the people" unless the pesticides are found in a toxic dose (they are not).
  Of course, the legal limits are purposefully designed to be well below the LOAEL, and those companies that were found to contain levels above them should face consequences. But to claim they "poison the people" isn't true.
  - Saline95154 minutes ago
    The toxic dose is a vague term. You may not die from exposure, but you can still have effects, such as infertility, cancers or endocrine disruption.
- spwa42 hours ago
  Wasn't the EU fresh from a scandal that they voted all sorts of laws, sued lots of EU companies, and then allowed Chinese companies to import lots of stuff that obviously violated all those laws for 20+ years?
  From safety regulations to baby toys with lead paint.
  The EU will probably do nothing again.
  - throwaway676782 hours ago
    When it comes to safety regulations as with everything else, some countries do not succeed, others do not try
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- WhereIsTheTruth27 minutes ago
  +1
  The downvotes aren't surprising, people who have spent enough time on this orange site tend to lose the plot
moi2388an hour ago
Oh you import food from third world countries and it’s terrible? Who would have guessed.
Better keep pushing the farmers in the EU away for more of these great “trade deals”
- darth_avocado24 minutes ago
  Are these EU farmers that are being turned away growing tea and spices?
burnt-resistor2 hours ago
There are all kinds of toxic residues and contaminants in the US food supply because there's a lack of testing, lack of regulation, lack of enforcement, and a lack of the precautionary principle. Meanwhile, farmers will continue spraying RoundUp on oats just before harvest, rice grown in the US will contain arsenic from naturally-occurring contaminated soils, and almost all bread contains toxic crap banned in the rest of the world.
- dirck-norman32 minutes ago
  There is some weird obsession on the internet about proving the U.S. is the worst at everything.
  Believe me, the majority of “The rest of the world” does not protect its citizens from harmful food contamination.
  - darth_avocado21 minutes ago
    You’re the worst at everything when you’re the only one measuring it. There are parts of the world where vegetables are grown next to where factories dump toxic waste. Pretty sure no one is measuring that.
  - llbbdd25 minutes ago
    I attribute a lot of it to the principle of "punching up".
    rootusrootus9 minutes ago
    Agreed. Nobody really talks about most other countries, while the US is pretty much top of the list of nearly every topic. So we're constantly a target.
- nozzlegearan hour ago
  I agree the situation is shitty in the US, but what does that have to do with pesticides banned in the EU? It seems entirely superfluous to this to this story.
- nickffan hour ago
  This article is about the EU food supply, and does not appear to attribute the contaminants to US exports. Why are you bringing American cultivation practices into this?
  If anything, this OP demonstrates that the EU regulations are futile (though that may be an overstatement).
  - bijowo1676an hour ago
    EU generally leads the developed world in regulation, that has become a meme and a joke.
    but for Food related stuff, EU standards and regulation are truly superior for consumers, relative to US and other countries
    daedrdev6 minutes ago
    The United States has far stricter labeling standards than the EU. That's why US products appear to have more ingredients, they are required to say what their ingredients are mad from, even on identical products.
    Many things that are well known memes are completely false. Not everything in the EU is better regulated. Everyone always complains about chlorinated chicken, not realizing that <5% of US chicken is washed that way as chicken now uses vinegar washes, and those that did were at concentrations deemed safe by the FDA.
    flexagoon35 minutes ago
    > but for Food related stuff, EU standards and regulation are truly superior for consumers, relative to US and other countries
    That is mostly a myth. EU and US take different approaches to setting food safety regulations, which means they have different lists of banned substances. The EU bans a lot of substances that have no evidence of actual adverse effects just out of an abundance of caution or sometimes even because of uninformed public perception, which is why their regulations seem more comprehensive, but the vast majority of that has no real positive effect on consumers.
    https://blog.ansi.org/ansi/differences-between-eu-and-us-foo...
    In terms of actual food safety, the US is basically the same as the EU (it technically ranks even higher than most EU countries on the "Quality and Safety" criterion of the Global Food Security Index, but the top countries are all very close)
    https://insights.economistenterprise.com/sustainability/proj...
    (Before anyone accuses me of something, I live in the EU and generally prefer EU in terms of lawmaking and regulations. It's just that food safety specifically is a point of comparison which is much less true than people usually think)
  - Jenssonan hour ago
    > If anything, this OP demonstrates that the EU regulations are futile (though that may be an overstatement).
    Nothing said that EU farmers used these pesticides, its related to imports. And even most imports they tested were in the legal limit even though they are from areas where these things are legal.