The Thai Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN) conducted tests on various fruits, including apples, dragon fruit, guava, jujubes, and oranges, sourced from supermarkets and fresh markets across 12 provinces in Thailand. The testing, which covered both imported and domestically grown fruits, aimed to detect residues of 419 chemicals. Results indicated that all fruit types tested contained pesticide residues surpassing safety standards.
Specifically, jujubes and oranges were highlighted for hazardous residues. In the case of jujubes, all 15 samples tested showed residues exceeding safety limits, with chlorpyrifos, a banned agricultural chemical in Thailand, present in six samples at high levels. Among the 17 orange samples, 14 exceeded safety standards, with chlorpyrifos detected in four samples, including imports from China and domestically grown fruits from Phichit and Chiang Rai.
Further findings revealed that for apples, 13 out of 17 samples contained pesticide residues, though only one exceeded safety standards. Guava samples showed that 10 out of 17 had residues above the safety limit. Dragon fruit testing found toxic residues in 15 out of 17 samples, with nine exceeding the standard values, including a sample certified as organic.
Thai-PAN plans to report these findings to government authorities for further examination of organic certification standards.
Source: Bangkok Post