Pesticide Use in Spain

Pesticides being used for fruit & vegetable market gardening along the coast between Alicante and Almeria, Spain. An analysis made by Greenpeace Germany's consumer organisation, the Shopping Net (Einkaufsnetz, EKN) proves that legal limits for pesticides have been exceeded in one in five samples of fruit and vegetables. Greenpeace bought 658 various fruit and vegetable samples including pears, grapes, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and lettuce from the leading supermarkets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and analysed them for 300 different pesticides. In 100 cases the legal limit for pesticide residue was exceeded. In 16 cases, extremely high levels of residue were found and in 27 instances illegal pesticide residues were discovered. The supermarket chains LIDL and REAL (Metro) proved to be the worst offenders.