Über unsFresh Fruit from Conventional Cultivation: Residues and Contaminants in 2015
Ein Bericht aus unserem Laboralltag
Nadja Bauer, Ellen Scherbaum
In 2015 a total of 813 samples of conventionally grown fresh fruit were analyzed at CVUA Stuttgart for the presence of over 700 different pesticides, pesticide metabolites and contaminants. Residues from 179 different pesticide substances were detected in 772 (95 %) of these samples (in 2014: 192 sub-stances; in 2013: 193 substances; in 2012: 197; in 2011: 184). Altogether, 4,889 residues were found (corresponding to the legal definition of residues – see Appendix 4 for comparisons). Residues were detected in quantities higher than the legal maximum residue level (MRL) in 42 (5.2 %) fruit samples (see Table 1). This rate of violations was half that of the previous year (in 2014: 11 %; in 2013: 4.8 %; in 2012: 4.5 %; and in 2011: 3.6 %). In particular, the number of samples with exceedances of the MRL for chlorate decreased, from 6.9 % in 2014 to 1.6 % in this reporting year. Significant reasons for this include the extensive residue analyses carried out in the realm of official food control and the successful elucidation and research into the causes and pathways of chlorate into food. As a result, self-monitoring measures implemented by food distributors have led to a reduction of chlorate in fresh fruit.
Expansion of the investigative spectrum for all samples
All samples were also routinely analyzed in 2015 for highly polar substances using the QuPPe method (see also http://quppe.eu), which the QuEChERS multi-method cannot detect. Included thereunder are the fungicides fosetyl and phosphonic acid, often used in fruit cultivation; the additives morpholine, di- and triethanolamine which, although not aut horized in the EU, are used in third countries for waxing and in fertilizers and which can be contained in pesticides as a co-formulant; the herbicide chlorate; and perchlorate, which is categorized as a contaminant.
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