“eternal pollutants” increasingly present in fruits and vegetables in Europe, denounce NGOs

The foods most affected include summer fruits, such as strawberries, peaches, apricots. Among vegetables, endives and cucumbers are the most contaminated.

More and more “eternal pollutants” (PFAS) in fruits and vegetables in Europe. According to a report published Tuesday February 27 by several associations, including Future Generations and Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, the presence of pesticides containing these chemical substances exploded between 2011 and 2021 in plants consumed in the European Union. According to an analysis of official data from national programs for monitoring pesticide residues in food in Member States carried out on 278,516 samples of fruits and vegetables, the volume of fruits contaminated by PFAS residues increased by 220% between 2011 and 2021.

The most affected are in particular summer fruits, such as strawberries (37% contaminated in 2021), peaches (35%) or apricots (31%). For vegetables, proportionally less affected by this contamination, the increase is 247% over ten years. Endives (42%) and cucumbers (30%) were the most contaminated in 2021. In the 20 EU countries studied, fruits and vegetables grown in the Netherlands (27%), Belgium (27%) , Austria (25%), Spain (22%), Portugal (21%), Greece (18%) and France (17%) are those which contain the most traces of PFAS.

“Chronic risks” for health

PFAS, which owe their nickname to the fact that they are very poorly degradable once in the environment and, for some, to their harmful effects on health, are usually mentioned for their use in industry or in health products. consumption such as non-stick pan coatings. But agriculture also uses these substances. According to the report, the most common agricultural use PFASs between 2011 and 2021 were the fungicide fluopyram, the insecticide flonicamide, and the fungicide trifloxystrobin.

According to a press release from Générations futures and PAN Europe, the results of the report “show that the use of PFAS in pesticides leads to increasingly common ingestion” residues of these substances “among European consumers” and “this source of contamination (…) must not be minimized compared to that due to other PFAS”. “The continued accumulation of PFAS in soils, waters, the food chain and resulting cocktails poses chronic risks to human health. There is an urgent need to [les] prohibit (…) in all food products and animal feed in order (…) to protect the health of citizens” Europeans, estimate the two associations.