Bad news for lime lovers. Greenpeace has drawn up a new report entitled “Limes with pesticides. The toxic cocktail of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement” to denounce the presence of various pesticide residues on limes produced in Brazil and sold in the European Union.
Analysis on limes
A specialized, accredited and certified laboratory analyzed 52 samples of limes purchased in supermarkets and wholesale markets in Italy, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. The results are disheartening and alarming: pesticide residues were found in all the samples, except one. Half of the pesticides traced are considered highly hazardous (HHP): they present a high risk to human health, animals or the environment.
Pesticides sold by European companies in Brazil
The pesticides found – including the herbicide glyphosate and the insecticides imidacloprid and cypermethrin – are mainly sold by European companies in Brazil, one of the main consumers of pesticides worldwide. Among the pesticides present in limes, there are some that are not approved or banned in the EU, but which are sold abroad and return to our tables in the form of residues. The unauthorized active ingredients were traced to limes purchased in Germany and Italy, which also contained the largest number of pesticides considered highly dangerous.
Source-tg24.sky.it