The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) has just launched an alert about the marketing in Spain of some table olives imported from Morocco that have high levels of a pesticide not authorized in the Union European (EU).
The product entered Spain on August 18, when a border control was carried out, says the RASFF. The analytical results show the presence of the insecticide Chlorpyrifos in a proportion of 0.067 mg/kg-ppm, when its Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) is set at 0.01 mg/kg.
No information has yet been published on other characteristics of this food, such as the brand or the packaging.
The RASFF has been informed of this problem by the Spanish authorities, who have indicated that the olives have only been distributed in Spanish territory. Chlorpyrifos is not authorized in the European area, hence the EU food alert system has classified the incidence as "serious".
The use and marketing of this insecticide was banned in 2020 by the European Commission after organizations such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed the genotoxic and neurological effects it could cause in children. .
In the United States, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) already banned it in 2015, while in Europe, eight EU member countries had also long since disallowed its use.
According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), "in people, short-term exposure to low levels of chlorpyrifos (mg) may cause dizziness, fatigue, runny nose, tearing, salivation or nausea, among other effects. Short-term oral exposure to higher levels (gr), on the other hand, can cause paralysis, seizures, fainting, and even death."
Chlorpyrifos, which works by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase and causing poisoning by collapsing the insect's nervous system, was widely used in Spain shortly before it was banned.
