Pesticide alarm in lemons! We are eating poison

Lemons intended for export from Turkey to Europe have been turned back at the border because pesticide levels were found to be well above safe limits.

The European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) announced in two separate notifications today that dangerous levels of pesticides were found in lemons originating from Turkey.

According to information on Gıdadedektifi, the first notification stated that Chlorpyrifos-methyl was detected in lemons prepared for shipment to Romania at 15 times the safe limit.

It was reported that this substance, which exceeds the safe limit set at 0.01 mg/kg, was present in the lemons at a level of 0.149 mg/kg. In the second case, it was stated that a pesticide called Prochloraz was found at 42 times the safe limit.

According to the RASFF statement, this situation made the return of the products mandatory due to health risks.

It was emphasized that pesticides have serious effects on human health in both the short and long term.

The need to review the inspection of agricultural practices in Turkey and the safety standards of exported products has once again come to the agenda.