An agriculture for human health
Almeria’s fruits and vegetables rated as safest by the European Food Safety Authority
While 30 years ago the produce coming out of Almeria’s greenhouses was usually under suspicion for the presence of pesticides over regulations limits, the farming sector in the province has managed to turn the situation in a decisive manner.
Is not only a matter of perception or the public declarations by the sector’s speakers - the change has been certified by the European Food Safety Authority, whose last report on pesticide traces on food put Almeria at the head of the list in safety and fiability.
at the head of the list
The report coming from the EFSA showcases the leading role of Spain in committing to pesticide regulations. As the report states, 97% of analyzed samples were free of pesticide residues, and therefore clearly much below authorized limits.
And the report’s findings are even better for Almeria in particular, with almost 100% of the samples coming up as residue-free.
This is proof of the changes that Almeria’s farming has experienced over the last two decades - an evolution that has been parallel to the assumptions of production models in which biological control is prioritized for dealing with plagues.
laboratories
This “European championship” of food safety puts the fruit and vegetable sector in Almeria at the head, with a higher commitment to community standards than countries like United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium and Netherlands, where matters dealing with food safety and healthiness have become almost an obsession for many years now.
At any point, this kind of report becomes a very useful tool with which to compete in the markets, specially with products coming from third countries, not integrated in the EU.
Usually the percentage of residue-free samples sent by these countries is around 45%, while last year’s percentage of samples that exceeded regulations was of 47,3%.
controls
The dean at Labcolor, the laboratory that runs the analysis of pesticide residues for Almeria’s fruits and vegetables declared the results of the report as very positive in an article at the Almería en Verde magazine edited by Coexphal, stating how most analytics show no traces of pesticide.
We can consume fruits and vegetables from the province with absolute safety and with the assurance of the work we do"
Labcolor’s director, Francisco García, comments that “we can consume fruits and vegetables from the province with absolute safety and with the assurance of the work we do - we can guarantee its outcome”.
the last campaign
The last data gathered by the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed again highlights Almeria’s farming at the vanguard of food safety amongst Europe’s production centres.
On the last RASFF’s report, as Hortoinfo shared, points to 301 food safety alerts related to fruits and vegetables detected over the seventh first months of the year, most of them due to pesticide residues exceeding regulatory limits.
But Almeria’s farming is absolutely in the clear in respect to these alerts, given the high commitment to existing controls and regulations and the expansion of biologic control to face the most common plagues.
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Almeria’s fruits and vegetables rated as safest by the European Food Safety Authority
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