Most bagged salads contain pesticide residues

2024-07-31 12:12:20

Food Justice also debated and much needed reporting focused on pesticides in bagged salads. And more importantly, in those found in the products that we gather by Florette y Mercadona. The complaint that set off the alarm was investigated by a French magazine 60 Million customers published in March 2024, which appears that the Most bagged salads contain pesticide residues.

Of the 26 brands analyzed, only five were free of pollution. The study examined salads from both national brands (Bonduelle, Florette, Les Crudettes) as distributor brands of large supermarket chains (Aldi, Lidl, Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarché, E. Leclercand so on).

On average, part of 3.8 pesticide residues per bag salad contaminated, and 11 bag lettuces contain one or more pesticide residues. And some pesticides are “carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to nature,” according to researchers. And that’s it know 28 different molecules, a real cocktail with eight molecules suspected of having at least one function of those mentioned.

Therefore, considering that Spain leads the use of pesticides in Europe, the Food Court decided to analyze a bag salad from the Florette brand called “Mezclum” and salad in a bag Farmer (Mercadona white label) called “Primavera“.

Both products are sent to the food division of the companies Eurofins Scientific (Barcelona), to produce the corresponding analysis. And they discovered six pesticides: five fungicides and one pesticide (two of them are on the list of pesticide candidates for substitution: Metalaxyl and metalaxylium-M and Fludioxonil).

Candidate pesticides are substances that, because of its toxicity, should be withdrawn from the market as soon as lower risk alternatives become available. It is important to clarify that all pesticides found are below the maximum allowable amount and, therefore, they comply with the current law even though they are not mentioned on the label.

The problem is the cocktail effect and the cumulative effect of toxins that are overlooked in packaged products that are ready to eat. What is the cocktail effect? The one that was created when Different substances work at the same time in the body.

It is not the same as One poison enters our body or many of us at the same time. This effect has not been studied, the contaminants are studied one by one. Obviously, putting together many of them (because they are not only those of lettuce, we are exposed to other toxins every day in other foods and in other situations of daily life) will have its consequences.

And the collective effect, what is it? Well when the exposure to low legal doses of the pesticide for the year. This is when legal limits require amendments for each isolated pesticide or, directly, that product is banned and classified as high risk.

To date, scientific evidence on the effect of the cocktail and the cumulative effect has not led to any restrictions or pesticide ban in the EU. We advise you to read the complete report, which contains a lot of data and nuances. And opt for shorter supply chains, too local, organic and packaged foods or, when necessary, can also be used.