Reporting On... - Revista F&H

The number of samples taken
of every product depend
on the potential health risks
it may pose to consumers. A
look at the top of the ranking
of samples per product
identifies a few of the notorious
problem childs: peppers,
grapes, tomatoes, lettuce,
and strawberries. Especially
the figures for lettuce deserve
a closer look.
Lettuce. Lettuce (‘butterheads’,
i.e. leaving out Iceberg
lettuce, rucola, Romaine
lettuce, etc.) turned out to be
the most problematic of all
product groups included in
the report. In particular, lettuce
from Belgium is one of
no more than two vegetables
(besides Greek rucola) where
the authors of the report go
as far as to explicitely recommend
to look for alternative
origins.
In 2010, Rewe commissioned
analyses of 491 lettuce samples,
the big majority of these
from Germany (285). Two
(Belgian) samples exceeded
ARfD values, 133 contained
residues in concentrations
that added up to aggregate
PRP values of at least 200%;
of these, in 89 cases individual
residues exceeded (by at
least 100%) the corresponding
PRP value.
The average CL was 226%;
the highest CL value, found
in Belgian lettuce, was
4621%. Not a single sample
from Belgium was among the
63 (13%) found to contain
no residues at all. Instead,
all Belgian lettuce samples
contained residues of at least
two different agents, and in
75% of all samples from that
origin, the number of active
substances was between five
and twelve; the average CL
amounted to 497%. (German
lettuce, compared to
Belgian exports, performed
clearly better: an average CL
of 59 per cent; no residues
above ARfD values; 21% of
samples were residue-free;
only 20% of samples contained
more than four active
substances.)
The report points out that,
for all origins, there is an important
difference between
the summer season (fewer
residues and nonconformities)
and winter, when the
conditions are equally adverse
to lettuce growing all
over Europe which is why the
origin cannot really account
for the big differences between
countries. Apart from
recommending to substitute
Belgium for other origins,
the report points out that frequent
sampling and screening
of lettuce from all origins,
especially in winter, must be
given top priority.
Acute vs. chronic health risks.
Of course, any fruit or vegetable
that contains a residue
higher than the ARfD and
therefore poses an immediate
risk to consumers, is
unacceptable, and growers,
traders, and retailers have
to look for ways to identify
and eliminate these products
from the shelves.
That is why several product
groups (peaches, citrus,
grapes, tomatoes, lettuce,
etc.) have to be kept under
close observation. At the
same time, professionals
must not forget the chronic
health risks inherent in fruits
and vegetables that do not
stand out for deviations from
ARfD values or the accepted
contamination levels. To
get a realistic picture of the
contribution of every single
product to the total amount
contamination level all
fruit and vegetables
(average % of
aggregate PRP)
ARfD incompliances (%)
Acute health risk (all
fruit and vegetables;
2007 = 100)
Chronic (consumptionrelated)
health risk (all
fruit and vegetables;
2007 = 100)
Focal Point
Health Safety on the Rise
of residues the average consumer
ingests, the average
consumption quantities 1 per
product have to be taken into
account. This is how we can
see that in 2010 (at least for
consumers who shop their
groceries at Rewe’s) the first
source of ingested residues
really was potatoes, followed
by apples (both 0 ARfD incompliances),
oranges, and
tomatoes. This fact has to be
taken into account when priorities
are set.
(1) The consumption quantities used
include processed food products, that
is to say the fresh produce equivalent,
which in some cases may account for a
high proportion of the total (potatoes,
tomatoes).
2007 2008 2009 2010
117 89 89 58
1.71 1.04 0.58 0,21
100 60 34 12
100 79 71 58
Source: Rewe Group Köln.
F&H International 1 • November 2011
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