They do not examine the combined effects of chemicals in food

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 08. 17. 12:07

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The permitted chemical limit values in certain agricultural products, including vegetables and fruits, including the regular amount of residues of various herbicides, fungi and insecticides, are established according to the amount that poses a threat to health, if only the residue of the given chemical is present in the given food our organization, drew attention to Dr. Péter Roszík, head of Biokontroll Hungária Nonprofit Kft.

However, in a recent comprehensive study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), more than a quarter of samples taken from fruits and vegetables contained up to 12 different chemicals. The combined effect of these is not taken into account in the legislation. If, for example, there are four types of plant protection active substances in a food, but the amount of none of them individually reaches its limit value, then the given product can be marketed. The plant protection regulations therefore do not currently take into account the proven phenomenon, unofficially called the “cocktail effect”, according to which the effects of different chemicals add up and often directly reinforce each other, the specialist points out.