NEWS BACKGROUND
Pesticides: Why, how and what?
ALS Laboratories (UK) Ltd (www. als-testing.co.uk) is one of the UK’s leading providers of food and drink testing services. With six accredited laboratories located across the country, they offer a comprehensive range of high quality, analytical testing services, including microbiological, nutritional, vitamins and minerals, pesticides and contaminants, allergens and speciation. They also provide clients with a wide range of consultancy services and technical support on food safety, labelling requirements, allergens management and sensory testing.
Is it a legal requirement, public safety or public perception? In this article, Buddhi Dias, ALS’s contaminants laboratory manager at their Chatteris site, considers the common reasons for testing food for pesticides, as well as what you should expect from a testing laboratory. WHY DO WE NEED PESTICIDES? If you ask your colleagues what is their perception of pesticides, what would be the top answers? Most likely the following will be at the top - poisonous, cancer causing, bee killers. All of these have been in media headlines in one form or the other. As much as there is some truth for using those terms, we still rely heavily on use of pesticides. Global demand for food is ever increasing, with more and more of us changing our lifestyles and choices of food. According to UN Food and Agriculture Organisation data, half of all habitable land is used for agriculture. Hence, to feed the ever-growing global populations, the yield of food production must be sustained and increased. The technology around farming is evolving to be able to give better yield, but the technology is not there yet to keep it sustainable and affordable. Hence, we still rely on old agricultural techniques, such as use of pesticides and crop rotation to increase and sustain crop yield. Pesticides are used for crop protection, to avoid diseases, unwanted vegetation, and pests. It is also used in the storage and transport of fresh produce. 44 I www.sandwichandfoodtogonews.co.uk
One of the questions that is often asked by those working in the food industry is why do we still need pesticides? The answer is that pesticides are used to increase crop yield, keep costs down, and to protect and maintain the appearance of crops. Another reason which is not always immediately apparent is that pesticides are used to inhibit the production of natural plant toxins, such as glycoalkaloids, tropane alkaloids and pyrrolizidine alkaloids. In 2019, there were two major foodpoisoning outbreaks in Uganda that resulted in five deaths and hundreds of people being admitted to hospital (‘Tropane alkaloid contamination of agricultural commodities and food products in relation to consumer health: Learnings from the 2019 Uganda food aid outbreak’ – Abia – 2021 – Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Wiley Online Library). Testing carried out revealed that the source of this poisoning was from a supercereal which contained tropane alkaloids. It has been suggested that without the use of pesticides the plants will create their own defensive mechanisms to combat pest and diseases, one such mechanism
is plant toxins and these toxins can be far more dangerous than pesticides for human consumption, even in small doses. In summary, we still need pesticides to produce safe, quality food at affordable prices. HOW DO WE MAKE IT SAFE? We can all agree that pesticides are poisons, so how do we make sure that they are safe for use? The simple answer would be to adhere to maximum residue levels (MRLs). When our clients ask for pesticide testing, many of them will request MRL testing as this is what is legislated, either, under EU regulations or as of January 2021 under GB regulations. These regulations are for any EU countries and Great Britain. It is slightly confusing, however, as there will be different sets of MRLs for different regions of the world. Other than MRLs set by different countries/regions, there are internationally agreed MRLs under CODEX. Hence, it is always important to recognise where you are selling your product and if the product is legal to be sold under those regulations. It is easy to think that MRLs, as well as the approval of an active substance,
