Thiruvananthapuram: Even as Kerala topped the latest national food safety index of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), a report of the department of agriculture has called for caution.
High levels of pesticide residue have been found in samples of food items collected from the open market, stated the report based on lab testing after a field inspection was undertaken between October 2022 to March 2023 as part of the ‘Safe to Eat Project’.
Pesticides have been detected in 35.64% of the samples of food articles collected and inspected at the Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Laboratory of the Vellayani Agricultural College, Thiruvananthapuram.
A total of 679 food article samples were collected and put to test, out of which 242 samples reported the presence of poisonous substances, sa the report released by the Department of Agriculture.
Vegetables (poisonous substances in 32.31% samples), fruits (44.2%), spices (66.67%) dried fruits (50%) and other food articles (14.28%) were inspected as part of this.
A total of 44.8% of samples collected from the open market and 48.21% procured from the organic-vegetable market contained poisonous substances. Vegetables collected directly from the farmers had a lesser presence of poisonous substances: 21.73%. The pesticide presence is higher in spices.
A good deal of food articles show the presence of non-recommended and highly toxic pesticides and fungicides like acefate, monocrotophos, acetamiprid, chlorantraniliprole, tebuconazole, trifloxystrobin, and ethion, the report said.