More than one in three (35.3%) loads of fruit and vegetables imported from Turkey to the European Union were found to contain an excessive amount of pesticides, according to the Association of Greek Fruit, Vegetable and Juice Exporters and Traders (INCOFRUIT-HELLAS), which cited the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF).
In the first half of 2023, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed received a total of 272 alerts due to the high presence of pesticides in fruit and vegetables that have reached EU Member States, either from third countries or from the EU itself.
The product of Turkey that presented the largest number of cases of excessive presence of pesticides is peppers, where a total of 41 cases were detected.
Next are lemons, with 28 cases of high concentrations of pesticides, tangerines with ten cases and tomatoes with six cases, while the rest of the alerts are spread between different fruit and vegetable products.
Egypt follows Turkey with a total of 42 notifications, of which 30 corresponded to oranges, and three to peppers, while the remaining nine alerts correspond to various fruits and vegetables.
According to the same announcement, 18 notifications came for fruits and vegetables from India, 15 from Kenya, 13 from Sri Lanka, 7 from China and Vietnam, 6 from Bangladesh and 5 from Madagascar.
The remaining notices are distributed to a total of 32 countries that sold their fruit and vegetables on Community markets. Bulgaria was the European Union country with the most rejections of fruit and vegetable cargoes from Turkey.
It is noted that according to ELSTAT data, in the five months of 2023, our country imported from Turkey 7,326 tons of fruits and vegetables, with 1,100 corresponding to zucchini, 952 tons to peppers and sweet peppers, 253 tons tomatoes and 52 tons of lemons.
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