Coldiretti, foreign fruit and vegetables are the most dangerous products, 6 out of 10 non-EU

Over the last year, more than one food alarm has broken out in Italy every day with 422 alerts concerning foreign products due to the presence of residues of pesticides banned in Italy, mycotoxins, heavy metals, microbiological pollutants, dioxins or additives and colourants, which are on the rise. by 42% compared to the same period of the year. And in almost 6 out of 10 cases these are products coming from non-EU countries. Fruit and vegetables are in first place in terms of number of reports, equal to 30% of the total. This is what emerges from a Coldiretti analysis on Rasff data as of 1 April 2024, released on the occasion of the farmers' mobilization at Brenner to stop the invasion of foreign food products often passed off as Italian.

Fruits and vegetables lead the blacklist. They range from Turkish and Iranian pistachios with high levels of aflatoxins – notes Coldiretti – to carrots from Egypt with residues of Linuron, a pesticide banned in Europe. But there are also black-eyed peas from Madagascar with Chlorpyrifos, a substance banned in the EU because it is suspected of damaging the brains of children, and is also present on beans from Bangladesh. Norovirus on German and Serbian frozen berries, but even frozen orange juice is not safe, since on the Iranian one there are residues of Propiconazole, which is also a banned substance. Pesticides also banned on chili peppers from Kenya, while aflatoxins were found on dried Turkish figs.

In second place among the most dangerous products is fish, with 107 reports. They range from French and Dutch oysters with the presence of norovirus – continues Coldiretti – to frozen cuttlefish from Albania with cadmium content, from Spanish swordfish and tuna with the presence of mercury above the limits to frozen cod fillets from China with the salmonella, also present in Chilean mussels.

Among the most dangerous products reported by Coldiretti, there are also meat, almost mainly due to the presence of salmonella. It has been discovered in chicken and turkey meat from Poland, Spain and the Netherlands, but also in Turkish and Chinese frog legs. In fourth place are cereals where almost all the reports concern rice from Pakistan, due to the presence of aflatoxins and residues of banned pesticides, while in fifth place we find spices, from Sri Lankan chilli with aflatoxins to Turkish origin with natural toxins, from Chinese chili peppers with salmonella to Indian cumin with pesticide residues.

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“It is necessary that all products entering national and European borders respect the same criteria, guaranteeing that behind the food, Italian and foreign, for sale on the shelves there is a similar quality path that concerns the environment, work and health – underlined the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini – From Brenner we therefore ask for the application of the principle of reciprocity, i.e. the same rules that are the same for everyone starting from the factors of production. Just think of the use of pesticides. A quarter of those used in the United States are banned in the EU and the percentages rise if South American countries are taken into account. It is absurd that we continue to import food produced with substances that have been banned in Europe for decades.”