Are Chinese products safe to eat?

Many consumers think the import of foods from China carries risks. No other country in the world uses as many crop protection agents. Pollution there is also rife. Even according to the official Chinese figures over 60% of the water in China is pollution, and a sixth of the ground is so contaminated with heavy metals that food cannot be grown on. Food from China continually receives negative results in official food checks.

EU checks on food from China are being partially tightened. But the German television programme Plusminus wants to find out if, despite this, products are ending up in Germany that are contaminated with crop protection substances. For this purpose, pomelos, dried mushrooms and peanuts from China were researched in an accredited laboratory.

What was alarming was the results in the dried mushrooms. A number of samples contained nicotine, some more than three times the legal limit. Nicotine is used in China against impairment due to insects. In Europe and the US the use of nicotine as a crop protection substance is banned.

The food importer must make sure that the products imported by them do not exceed the legal limits. The importer responded to Plusminus' research and has started a recall action. Plusminus also looked into the products that arrived on the market afterwards. The new nicotine levels were clearly under the maximum amount. The laboratory found residues of other crop protection substances banned or controversial in the EU in products sold as 'forest mushrooms' or 'wild mushrooms'. However, the amounts remained within the legal limits.

As far as the pomelos were concerned: they were safe. The laboratory only found residues of crop protection common among citrus fruits, and none exceed the legal limits. One sample of peanuts, however, contained a strikingly high level of cadmium. There is no legal limit for this in Europe, but in Switzerland the peanuts would be classed as inedible.