Chemical cocktail or safe food?

By: Trademagazin Date: 2026. 02. 16. 11:30

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Confiscated African and Asian fruit shipments and detection of pesticides banned in Europe in southern European vegetables – the food alerts at the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026 have once again drawn attention to the fact that the issue of pesticides is also a critical point in global trade. How can banned substances end up on our plates, and what consequences can such news have for importers? In the compilation of the professional blog Laborhírek, we will explore the laboratory control of pesticides, the risks of the “cocktail effect”, and the role of precision laboratory tests in food safety, with the involvement of experts from the Hamilton accredited testing laboratory.

A few days ago, the news made the rounds in the Hungarian press: in Romania, more than 12 tons of oranges with a high pesticide content were sold through a hypermarket chain, the packaging and labels of the fruits were changed to give the impression that they came from Greece, when they were originally from Egypt. title=”https://maszol.ro/belfold/Tobb-mint-12-tonna-magas-novenyvedoszer-tartalmu-narancsot-ertekesitettek-atcimkezve” href=”https://maszol.ro/belfold/Tobb-mint-12-tonna-magas-novenyvedoszer-tartalmu-narancsot-ertekesitettek-atcimkezve” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer” data-auth=”NotApplicable” data-linkindex=”3″>imported products. The European Food Safety Authorities’ Alert System (RASFF) also flagged several other problematic items in international trade at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. In January 2025, the Dutch authority issued a warning for pesticide residues above the maximum limit on Vietnamese dragon fruit, while in the same period another batch found pyraclostrobin was recorded, while in April 2025thiamethoxam residues were found – also in fresh dragon fruit shipments. In late 2025 and early 2026, banned pesticides were also repeatedly found in fresh peppers from Turkey in the EU, and the active ingredient chlorpyrifos, which has already been banned by the EU after the was also frequently found. href=”https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/pesticides” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer” data-auth=”NotApplicable” data-linkindex=”8″>EFSA has assessed that genotoxic risk cannot be ruled out.

According to information from Laborhírek, consuming fruits and vegetables containing pesticide residues above the limit value can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness or allergic reactions in the short term (and even nervous system symptoms in the case of certain active ingredients). However, In the case of higher exposure, hormonal system disturbances, liver and kidney strain, nervous system development problems, and with some substances, an increased risk of cancer may also arise.

The use of pesticides is, however, a technological necessity in the modern food economy: in the absence of pest control, not only would yields decrease, but the proliferation of microscopic, toxic fungi, mycotoxins, would also endanger products. The permissible limits are therefore set with a serious safety margin. The aim is therefore not to completely ban the use of the compounds, but to comply with strictly regulated maximum residue limits (MRLs).