Salads in bags “too contaminated with pesticides”, warns a study carried out in France, reports Rador Radio Romania.
Salads would not be so green, the cited study shows. A study carried out by the magazine “60 Millions de consommateurs” published on Thursday reveals that, among the references of lamb or iceberg salad sold in bags in supermarkets, only one salad out of five is free of any contamination.
How was the study conducted?
To reach this conclusion, the consumer defense magazine analyzed in the laboratory 26 references sold both by national brands such as Bonduelle, Florette, or Les Crudettes, and by distribution brands such as Aldi, Lidl, Carrefour, Monoprix, but and Intermarché and E. Leclerc. As a result, of all the lettuces tested, only five showed no trace of pesticide contamination.
“Among other things, 28 different molecules were detected, 8 are suspected of having carcinogenic or reprotoxic properties,” warns the magazine. “The amounts found are within the regulatory limits, even for the highest in the test,” notes “60 Millions de consommateurs”. In other words, there is – in theory – no health risk. But until now, scientists know almost nothing about the cocktail effects of all these molecules.
Bagged salads are regularly subject to recalls. And for good reason, lettuce shoots are particularly fragile and susceptible to pests such as aphids and slugs, forcing farmers to use plant protection products to protect their crops. The study also reveals that salads labeled organic are contaminated with pesticides. Without being sprayed on shoots, they could persist in crop soils.
