New Zealanders may soon be eating their kiwi fruits with five times their current levels of chemical residues in them, under government plans to relax residue restrictions.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority says the proposals are a reflection of changing agricultural practice, and is asking for public comment on the plan to add nine new maximum residue limits (MRL) for chemicals including abamectin in tomatoes, spinosad in stonefruits and picoxystrobin in barley, to the food standards register.
Environmental groups were ‘horrified’ at the suggestions, and told New Zealand’s Press newspaper the Food Safety Authority was ‘more interested in promoting exports than protecting consumers.’
“This is exactly the opposite of what you would expect a food safety authority to be doing,” fumed Green Party spokeswoman Sue Kedgley. “It’s like there are conflicting objectives - to facilitate exports and, oh, by the way, protect our consumers. Consumers are definitely subordinated.”
However, NZFSA policy analyst said that while the increases may seem considerable, in terms of the percentages of average daily intake and average daily exposure, they only consider changing MRLs if they are deemed to be a very low health risk.
“When they occasionally do increase, it is generally to reflect changes in recommended agricultural practice. It is nothing to do with safety levels.”
Steffan Browning, a spokesman for the country’s Soil and Health Association, said growers were having trouble complying with the current MRLs, the paper reported.
“That is the reason why they are lifting them and that’s completely the wrong way round.
“If a residue level is set and residue levels are consistently higher, and then they lift the MRL to accommodate that, it is clearly further aggravating the problem.”
Dr Merial Watts, a spokeswoman for the Pesticide Action Network added: “You lose faith - they’re not really interested in protecting our food supply, but more in reassuring us that things are OK when they aren’t always.” l
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