Farmers’ sales are slashed every time the European Union publishes another instalment of its “flawed” pesticides report, according to a local lobby group.
Malcolm Borg, who heads the Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi, said farmers’ sales dropped by up to 25 per cent whenever the EU’s food safety agency released its findings on local pesticide use.
The repercussions, he said, last a few weeks after the report is made public as it puts many buyers off supporting local produce.
This, Borg said, was because the findings published annually by the European agency often made it seem as though a lot more pesticides were being sprayed on local fruit and vegetable than was actually the case.
One of the main reasons the findings were skewed, Borg said, was the sampling ratios used to conduct tests in Malta compared to larger European Union countries.
In Malta, the proportion of tests carried out in relation to the amount of produce available on the market was far greater than elsewhere.
For instance, while the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) sampled more than 200 items per 100,000 Maltese citizens, in Italy the sample size was 10 times smaller.
The more tests conducted, the more likely it was to discover produce that had been overexposed to pesticides. This meant comparing Malta to Italy and drawing conclusions that the island was a worse offender were not sound assertions, he contended.
Increase in samples with residue levels
Borg, an academic who also heads MCAST’s centre for agricultural studies, urged the public to continue supporting local producers. Many Maltese farmers were operating under slim profit margins and the industry needed buyers’ help to survive, he said.
The latest instalment of the EFSA report published recently says that legal action was taken against an unspecified group of Maltese farmers after they failed routine pesticide screening for different insecticides.
According to the national summary on Malta, samples from 20 different food types, both locally produced and imported, were tested.
These included 12 apples, 10 types of baby food, three samples of barley grain, 12 cabbages, 12 batches of grapes, 12 lettuces and so on.
Fruit, vegetables and other products were tested for any traces of more than 500 pesticides. Just over half of the products tested were identified as being of Maltese origin while 42 per cent were imported, the bulk of which came from within the EU.
Most of the produce tested in the country passed, with 91 per cent given the all-clear, something Borg says should also be taken into account.
Of these, 38 per cent contained no pesticide residue whatsoever while more than half were positive for pesticides but only in amounts well below the maximum allowed in the EU.
The food safety agency said that nine per cent of samples (20 items) contained pesticide residues above the maximum level allowed at law.
In a separate breakdown of results, EFSA said the products failing the test were two samples of local cabbages, six batches of spinach, three samples of strawberries, two samples of tomatoes and five samples of potatoes.
In an opinion of why produce had failed the test, the EFSA pointed to “good agricultural practice not being respected”.
The report said the application rate – how much pesticide can legally be sprayed – was not always being respected.
Comparing the 2019 figures with past results, the EFSA said there had been an increase in the number of samples with residue levels below the acceptable maximum when compared to the previous two years.
The percentage of samples above the maximum threshold in 2019 was nine per cent as compared to four per cent in 2018 and three per cent in 2017.
The national pesticide monitoring programme is meant to ensure compliance with maximum residue levels of the chemicals allowed across the European Union.
Here, it is the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority that is responsible for conducting pesticide tests.