Über unsFresh Vegetables from Conventional Cultivation: Residues and Contaminants in 2015
Ein Bericht aus unserem Laboralltag
Kathi Hacker, Ellen Scherbaum
In 2014 a total of 916 samples of conventionally grown fresh vegetables were analyzed at CVUA Stuttgart for the presence of over 700 different pesticides, pesticide metabolites and contaminants. Residues from 210 different pesticide substances were detected in 842 (92 %) of these samples (in 2014, 208 substances; in 2013, 199 substances; and in 2012, 219 substances). Altogether, 4,142 residues were found (corresponding to the legal definition of residues – see Appendix 4 for comparisons). Residues were detected in quantities higher than the legal maximum residue level (MRL) in 149 (16 %) vegetable samples (see Table 1). This rate of violations is the same as that in 2014. In comparison to earlier years, however, the last two years have been significantly higher (2013: 4.4 %; 2012: 6.4 %; 2011: 7.0 %). The cause therefor is the expansion of the investigative spectrum to include polar pesticides and the high number of samples exceeding the MRL for chlorate.
Expansion of the investigative spectrum for all samples
In 2015 all samples were routinely analyzed for an additional 30 highly polar substances using the QuPPe method (see also http://quppe.eu), which the QuEChERS multi-method cannot detect.
These include the fungicides fosetyl and phosphonic acid, which are also used in vegetable cultivation and were first analyzed in 2012, as well as the herbicide chlorate and perchlorate, which is categorized as a contaminant.
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