‘What happened to the food that contains agricultural pesticides?’

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Food products that have been sent back to Turkey from Europe and other world countries due to agricultural pesticides they contain have reached a record level this year.

"No Pesticides on My Plate Platform" asked about what happened to these food products, in a press statement they have released today (May 9)

The Platform demanded the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to increase the controlling of food products and to be transparent about what happened to these foods that have been sent back to Turkey from Europe.

The platform drew attention to the fact that the determination of pesticides has increased three times in the last three years.

"In 2021, 372 notifications were made by European Union Countries to Turkey due to pesticides," the platform noted.

According to a 2020 report by Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) Turkey has been mentioned 3 times in the list of the top 10 number of notifications by country of origin regarding hazards in products.

India ranks first with ethylene oxide notification, Poland second with salmonella notification, and Turkey third with pesticide notification, the same report reveals.

Pesticides used in Turkey

The platform drew attention to the RASFF's findings in its statement:

-It has been determined that pesticides were used in pepper, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, orange, vine leaves, grapes, dried figs, pomegranate, spice and plant mixtures, poppy seeds, carob gum and cumin exported from Turkey.

- The products that were returned from EU countries contain dangerous pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, which is very harmful for children and banned in Turkey, prochloraz, which is among the pesticides that disrupt the hormonal system, and acetamiprid, which is known to cause mass bee deaths.

- According to data of products exported from Turkey pesticides were determined in 113 products in 2018, in 98 products in 2019 and in 194 products in 2020.

-372 products were rejected at the borders and returned to Turkey in 2021.
The platform demanded information about what happened to these products and warned Turkey about its agricultural policies.

No Pesticides on My Plate Platform

The petition launched by "No Pesticides on My Plate Platform" demanding the banning of the usage of pesticides has been signed by over 166,000 people so far.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has banned the use of 27 pesticides during the campaign process.

CLICK: Nine pesticides banned in Turkey

However, 9 out of 13 active substances determined by the World Health Organization as "extremely dangerous", "highly dangerous" and "possible carcinogen" have not been banned yet. (TY/TB)