The worst supermarket fruit and veg for pesticides

New tests have revealed the fruit and vegetables most affected by potentially cancer-linked pesticide mixtures.

Using data released by the government last month, the Pesticide Action Network (Pan) UK found 12 food items were at risk of a “cocktail effect”, meaning several pesticides mixed together increase the toxicity level of the chemicals.

While the government’s health and safety food monitoring programmes concluded that the vast majority of samples tested contained a safe level of pesticides, Pan UK said the report only tested individual pesticides and not a mix.

Grapes were found to be the worst of all the food groups, with one sample containing the residue of at least 16 different pesticides. At least 90 per cent of the 108 grape samples tested contained multiple pesticides.

A sample of sultana grapes from Turkey included man-made PFA “forever” chemicals, which are toxins that do not break down in the body naturally and can accumulate, leading to cancer and environmental damage.

Grapefruit fared poorly, with around 99 per cent of samples found to contain multiple pesticide residues. One sample was found to contain ten different types.

Other foods affected included 79 per cent of 24 lime samples, 67 per cent of 73 banana samples, 49 per cent of 96 sweet pepper specimens and 46 per cent of 97 melons. Chilli peppers were found to contain 11 different pesticides, while one sample of broccoli contained eight.

Beans, mushrooms, aubergine and dried beans were also included in the so-called “dirty dozen”.

“We found that a quarter of vegetables and three-quarters of fruit contain multiple pesticides,” Pan UK wrote.

It explained that 123 different chemicals were found in the 17 types of fruit and vegetable tested, which included 42 pesticides with links to cancer and 21 known to interfere with hormone systems that could potentially lead to birth defects, developmental disorders and reproductive issues.

The government’s food monitoring programmes tested 3,482 samples each for an appropriate range of pesticides, testing a total of 1,153,009 food and pesticide combinations.

Surveys conducted across the UK found that 51.26 per cent of the samples had none of the residues the programmes looked for, and 46.67 per cent had residues found at or below the maximum residue limit. Only 2.07 per cent of the samples had residues above this limit, according to the report.

However, Pan UK has argued that the limits need to be reassessed, as they do not take into account chemicals exposed through plastic food packaging and water.

Around 29 per cent of the pesticides found during testing are not approved for use by British farmers, but can slip into the food system when imported from outside the UK.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told Metro: “We have placed strict limits on pesticide residues, which are set after rigorous risk assessments to ensure levels are safe for the public. These limits apply to both food produced domestically and imported from other countries.”