Research shows: ‘There are more and more pesticides in raisins’
How about that?
More and more pesticides in raisins
According to the Nutrition Center it is fine to give your child a small portion of raisins, but an analysis by Foodwatch shows that it is not such an innocent snack after all. The ‘food watchdog’ discovered this by requesting unpublished data from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). This shows that raisins, which were found in distribution centers of Aldi and Plus, among other things, now contain more pesticides than a few years ago. In 2018, 6.1 poisonous species were found per measurement, in 2020 the average was 11.3 poisonous species. According to Foodwatch, the analyzed raisins contain a ‘cocktail’ of pesticides. A total of 45 different types of agricultural poisons were found there. Some pesticides can affect the growth development of the brain, genitals and hormones or cause fungal growth in the body. From a certain amount they can also be carcinogenic. In the permitted amounts, pesticides are usually not that bad, but a mix of pesticides can be dangerous.
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Different pesticides in one box
How is it possible that there are so many different pesticides in raisins? ‘For example, Farmer A uses four pesticides and Farmer B uses four other types. They come together at the auction and then you already have eight that can end up in one box,’ Nicole van Gemert of Foodwatch tells RTL Nieuws. In addition, pesticides have individual limits, but there is no regulation for mixing pesticides. Exactly how harmful this is to health has not yet been investigated. But: ‘As long as there is doubt about the risks, pesticide cocktails do not belong on our plates — and certainly not on our children’s plates,’ says Van Gemert. Foodwatch calls on supermarkets to allow a maximum of five pesticides per product. Their advice: only buy organic raisins for the time being, because no pesticide residues were found in them.
Source: Foodwatch, RTL Nieuws
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