ANSA: A quarter of fruit and vegetables sold on the market exceed the permissible level of toxic substances
Melon, courgettes and cabbage, are champions for the amount of nitrates they contain. According to specifiers, about a quarter of the samples taken in markets and stalls in the capital exceed the permissible norm of toxic substances for the body. However, inspectors from the National Food Safety Agency say that before they reach the shops, sellers are obliged to test the fruit and vegetables in a laboratory.
The National Food Safety Agency's Central Phytosanitary Laboratory carries out dozens of samples every day. Fruit and vegetables go through several stages. First they are chopped and homogenised, an important process to ensure the most accurate result, say experts.
"Here we have the cucumber sample. We need to add the reagents. For nitrates, two samples are taken so that we also have the duplicate sample so that the result is as accurate as possible. Here we put on vortexing for five minutes, mixing takes place, homogenization as efficient as possible. After the centrifugation process we filter the sample and obtain the solution to be analysed. This cucumber sample has 127 mg of nitrates, they are open field cucumbers. They are very good because the limit is 150," said Inga zolotcov, laboratory technician.
The process of determining pesticide residues is more complex and time-consuming.
"We have to add internal solution to calculate the result at the end. After evaporation, the sample is redissolved in the injection solvent and depending on the analysis, we end up with a millilitre or two for technical analysis. Now he washes and then injects the sample," said Maria Boeva, head of the Residue Control Laboratory.
According to specialists, the results obtained from nitrate meter testing are not reliable because they cannot be metrologically verified and are not regulated by legislation.
"We have a prescribed maximum permissible limit for a certain product when the tested concentration exceeds this limit, then the product is non-compliant, and when we do not have such a prescribed limit, based on what we determine that it is compliant or non-compliant. Who established for the nitrate meter that in apples it should be 100 mg/kg nitrate content. Of course there are professional nitrate meters, but they are certainly not sold in the mass market," said Tatiana Rotari, head of the Phytosanitary Laboratory.
People say they are on the lookout when shopping:
"We look for freshness, we look for the stalk, we look for rottenness." "If the vegetables are ripe and tasty, then we buy them, sometimes we even taste them". "At the trust we take the fruit, the vegetables and we look how they are, round, nice, red, how they are in colour". "You notice those that have herbicides, but you see that they are clean, they are beaten a bit by the stone".
According to the ANSA, 420 samples for pesticide residues and 300 samples for nitrates have been planned for this year, for both imported and domestic products.
