NZ Food Safety defends itself on pesticide probe

Reading Time: 2 minutes New Zealand Food Safety’s handling of a case where levels of a pesticide in silverbeet far exceeded maximum allowable residue levels is under the spotlight after Greenpeace released documents it obtained under an OIA.

The OIA was prompted after a section on non-compliance in the 2022-2023 Food Residues Survey Programme Report showed an instance where methamidophos, an organophosphate insecticide, was used off-label for silver beet, and maximum residue levels (MRL) of 3.6 mg/kg were found, well above the New Zealand MRL of 0.01 mg/kg.

Methamidophos is not authorised for use on silverbeet and has since been banned in NZ.

The Food Residues Survey Programme report deals with food sampled from retail outlets, farmers markets, and distributors such as packhouses.

The report showed that from a total of 147,063 tests, there were 33 non-compliant test results.

The document includes email correspondence between New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) members, and between NZFS members and the grower, and documents of an investigation covering the finding.

Email correspondence says: “We have just had confirmation that a silverbeet sample tested under FRSP potentially is a food safety issue. Noting that there are potentially 2 issues here, the food safety risk and the use of methamidophos on silverbeet, which is prohibited.”

The name of the grower was redacted in the OIA.

The documents show correspondence saying the product could not be recalled because it would have been distributed and consumed within a week due to its perishable nature.

Greenpeace is reported to have said that the public should have been informed of the matter.

NZFS deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the organisation would never allow consumers to be exposed to food it considers unsafe.

“As a first step, a NZFS toxicologist assessed that a food safety risk could not be excluded for chronic, or ongoing, exposure.

“This initial ‘internal’ calculation was based on a worst-case, precautionary assessment that overestimated consumption.

“These initial conservative calculations were followed by a rigorous risk assessment, taking into account likely exposure and use of potentially affected products in New Zealand.”

He said the assessment found there was no immediate or ongoing food safety risk because:

• Consumption was overestimated in the initial assessment. “It was estimated on combined consumption of all leafy vegetables – of which silverbeet would be a subset – and very high consumption rates.

• This was a one-off event, mitigating the risk.

• Silverbeet is generally washed before being eaten. “Studies have shown washing can reduce residues by a quarter.”

• Silverbeet is generally cooked before being eaten, “and methamidophos breaks down in temperatures above 80degC”.

The post NZ Food Safety defends itself on pesticide probe appeared first on Farmers Weekly .