The detection in Spain of a batch of watermelons contaminated with a pesticide banned in Europe from Morocco reveals the vulnerability of European markets to a food trade that is global, but has unequal environmental standards between countries. The protection of the Spanish consumer of imported fruits, vegetables and other foods is not sufficiently guaranteed when these consumer items come from countries with lower standards than the European ones regarding the use of pesticides. This is indicated by various experts consulted by this newspaper, who demand an increase in the number of controls by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety (Aesan).
The debate on the contamination by pesticides of fruits and vegetables (in this case, watermelons) has been put on the table again from a health alert launched by the European border food control system (Rasff, for its acronym in English). ). This detected on July 14 the entry into Spain of a batch of watermelons with a high level of methomyl, a pesticide whose use is not authorized in Europe.
The intercepted Moroccan watermelons contained traces of an insecticide at levels higher than those allowed on the European market (specifically, in a proportion of 0.38 mg/kg-ppm, when its maximum residue limit is established at 0.015 mg/kg -ppm). Even if a substance is prohibited, there are legal limits set for health reasons.
The European system qualifies the incidence as "serious", but the places where the distribution of affected watermelons has been carried out is unknown.
The Ministry of Consumption did not provide information on the origin and destination of the consignment of watermelons, nor who was the importer or the market for which they were intended. Nor is it known in what percentage they were distributed.
For its part, the Ministry of Health, responsible for the Foreign Health Surveillance Plan, has opened an alert for this product due to the presence of the pesticide with levels above the maximum residue established in the regulations.
As of this alert, this ministry has intensified controls to detect methomyl in watermelons from the exporting establishment from which the watermelons came. Once the analyzes were received, the ministry informed the autonomous community of destination of the merchandise (Catalonia).
"The notification of Spain, through the European rapid alert system for food and feed (Rasff), is the result of official and ordinary controls at border control posts," said Aesan.
"In this case, a substance not authorized in the EU was identified, before which all the protocol actions required in Europe were carried out, including the communication to the operator for the withdrawal of the products from the market", the company limited itself to saying. agency.
Methomyl is used as a pesticide and can have serious consequences in some cases. The symptoms of poisoning by this substance are headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating, tremors, muscle weakness and blurred vision. Mixing methomyl with alcohol consumption can impact the central and peripheral nervous system, as well as causing kidney failure, according to Facua.
Are there sufficient controls on food products from Morocco? "As a consumer, I have my doubts," says Cristóbal Serrano, who has chaired the intersectoral melon and watermelon trade union of the Asaja agrarian union for years.
Serrano argues that Morocco "does not have the same controls" or limitations on the use of pesticides as in Europe. "They have no limitations on any kind of pesticides," he stresses, before praising Spain's traceability systems. "Each watermelon and each melon has its DNI, and we know what polygon and what parcel it is from," which allows us to locate its origin and act quickly if an alert is given, says Serrano, who is calling for more border controls.
Other sources from consumer organizations ask that the information system of these alert networks be more specific, since the lot number or other information is not even offered to identify the place of cultivation or plantation of origin.
Koldo Hernández, an expert at Ecologistas en Acción, believes that it would be wrong to think that irregularities only occur in the case of fruit and vegetables imported into Spain and highlights that there have also been alerts at the borders of other European countries as a result of the entry of Spanish agricultural products.
In this sense, he points to recent alerts in the Netherlands or Poland, such as the appearance in March of Spanish mandarins with prohibited pesticides or with traces of these pesticides. "Everywhere they cook broad beans," he sums up. "In the Rasff rapid alert database there are cases in which non-compliant Spanish foods also appear," she says.
One of the current contradictions of the globalized food system is that there are chemical substances that are prohibited for use in agriculture in the EU, but whose manufacture is authorized in the EU and can be exported to other countries (such is the case of methomyl, which was manufactured in Spain at least in 2020).
The consequence of all this is that it is plausible to think that pesticides manufactured in Europe and present in imported food (from third countries) end up being ingested by Spanish consumers, which may indicate a lack of zeal on the part of importers.
And all this, without it being possible to rule out that the producers of the watermelons (or melons) are Spanish, since a good part of the investment in the sector is made in Morocco, according to Serrano.
The current regulations establish maximum residue limits allowed for each pesticide in food, including unauthorized pesticides. These limits have a double purpose. On the one hand, they serve to protect the health of vulnerable people, and on the other hand, it is a formula that in practice serves not to block free trade. The commercialization of foods with low levels of pesticides is allowed, whatever their origin, so as not to make this world trade impossible.
“The risk to the population is not eliminated by washing or peeling food. It is essential that the Government supports and meets the objective of reducing the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030 proposed by the new European regulation for the sustainable use of pesticides”, says Kistiñe García, from the toxic area of Ecologistas en Acción. "Aid is needed for the agricultural sector, which must learn new ways of growing food without the archaic use of toxic products," she adds.
The analyzes of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (Aesan) corresponding to the year 2021 show the high presence of pesticide residues in the food consumed in Spain.
Specifically, 43% of the fruit and vegetable samples and 40% of the food set (meat, fish, baby food and others are also analysed) contain pesticide residues, that is, traces of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides.
This last amount represents an increase of five percentage points compared to the 2020 analysis, according to a follow-up study by Ecologistas en Acción. In food, 125 different types of pesticides have been detected, although only 2.5% of the samples exceed the legal limits allowed by the regulations.
In addition, these results are indicative of a part of the reality, since the number of samples analyzed is limited (1,904). In fact, Aesan analyzed only four samples per 100,000 inhabitants, when the European Union average is 4.5 times higher.
Fruits and vegetables were the foods with the highest number of these residues: 121 pesticides that contaminated 43% of the samples. The foods with the highest number of pesticides were table grapes, with 51 substances, and sweet peppers, with 32. Regarding the samples of animal origin, 3.39% contained pesticides.
The report considers it "worrying that up to a total of 46 pesticides not authorized by the EU are still present in food", as a consequence of exceptional authorizations for their use or other known causes (persistent pollutants or illegal use).
Aesan's analyzes also detected remains of 66 pesticides with the ability to alter the hormonal system (or endocrine disruptors); that is, chemical substances capable of interfering with the natural action of hormones and therefore associated with diseases related to the male and female reproductive system, tumors in hormonal organs, metabolic diseases or disorders of the neuroimmune system, among others.
Luis Ángel (Koldo) Hernández, one of the authors of the study, stresses that "the high percentage of pesticides can constitute a danger because in many cases not a single one is detected in the product, but several", which is known as the "effect combined or cocktail ”, he exposes. In addition, since certain pesticides are endocrine disruptors, "any dose of exposure, even the lowest, can imply a hazard."
Koldo Hernández adds: "The Government must also investigate why more than a third of the pesticides detected are not authorized, and replace the most dangerous pesticides with more sustainable alternatives."
He also considers that Aesan should improve its analysis to provide more representative information, with more samples and with information on the pesticides that are actually used in the fields.
