Chemical testing

Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has announced it has destroyed 900kg of vegetables tainted with residues of the chemical Carbofuran since the beginning of this year, according to the Straits Times.

Traces of the pesticide, which is marketed under the trade name Furadan, were found on shipments of coriander, chillies and long beans from Malaysia and Thailand, and these consignments were duly destroyed by the AVA.

The Straits Times reported that the AVA had released this information in response to a letter from one of the newspaper's readers asking whether the AVA or Health Sciences Authority tested for Carbofuran in the fruit and vegetables imported into Singapore.

The Straits Times reader, Phillip Lee, had written that a warning had been circulating on the internet that traces of the insecticide had been found in fresh fruits like watermelons and bananas. But AVA said fresh fruits were not included in the consignments of produce destroyed because of traces of Carbofuran.

Carbofuran, which is used to control insects in a wide variety of field crops, is prohibited in the EU and Canada and there is a de facto ban in place on its use in the US.

With almost no domestic fruit and vegetable production, Singapore is heavily dependent on imports. The city-state brought in an estimated 400,000 tonnes and 300,000 tonnes of vegetables and fruit respectively last year.

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