Worrying Summer Fruits
Strawberries contaminated with pesticides – you should consider this when buying
© Tatyana Gladskih / Adobe Stock
Summery, sweet, delicious and healthy. Or? What the “Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland” (BUND) found out in laboratory tests raises doubts about the tolerability of the red fruits: Many strawberries apparently contain a poison cocktail.
The “Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland” (BUND) had 19 strawberry samples examined by different retailers. The result is worrying: residues of different fungicides were found in 15 samples. More than half contained two or more active ingredients, and in three samples a total of four antifungal agents were detected. Corinna Hölzel, pesticide expert at BUND, is alarmed:
Strawberries are healthy, kids love them. That is why we are very concerned about the proven cocktails of pesticides, i.e. the multiple contamination. Interactions between pesticides can increase their toxic effects.
The dangers of multiple exposures are generally not sufficiently taken into account in the risk assessment. The found fungicides bupirimat and penconazole are suspected of influencing the human hormone system. The trifloxystrobin detected in four samples is also classified as harmful to reproduction. “Such poisons are effective even in very low concentrations and should have been banned long ago,” says Hölzel.
Which strawberries were tested?
From Aldi to Rewe: Strawberries from almost all supermarket chains failed. Also with regard to the origin of the contaminated fruit, no specific region could be determined. Strawberries contaminated with fungicides from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain were found.
Which strawberries are safe to eat?
Washing the strawberries only helps to a limited extent. While fruit and vegetables should always be washed before consumption, pesticides can penetrate the fruit. If you don’t want to have poison in your food, you should buy organic products. No chemical-synthetic pesticides are used in organic farming, and the diversity of species on organically farmed fields is also significantly higher.
Take action: Petition against pesticides
With a petition against pesticides to Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens), the BUND wants to give its demands political emphasis. The environmental organization calls on the federal government to at least halve the use of pesticides by 2030 and to ban particularly dangerous pesticides. Better protection against the multiple contamination of food is also necessary. You can take part at aktion.bund.net/besser-ohne-gift.