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Sylvia Mahnke-Plesker, Sylvia Lorenz, Eva Brenndörfer (2005) Installation of a monitoring system for fresh fruit and vegetables in the German natural food market
Report,
Bundesverband Naturkost Naturwaren(BNN) Herstellung und Handel e.V., D-Köln.
Document:
6742-02OE687-bnn-mahnke-plesker-2005-monitoring.pdf
Abstract
The project “Installation of a monitoring system for fresh fruit and vegetables in the German natural food market“ ran from 01–07–2003 to 31–12–2004 under the management of the Bundesverband Naturkost Naturwaren (BNN) Herstellung und Handel (German Association of Natural Food and Products for Traders and Processors). The primary aim was to improve quality assurance in the ecological foodstuffs sector.
Regular, risk-oriented sampling of fruit and vegetables in the organic foodstuffs trade enabled possible contamination from pesticides to be tracked down, the causes investigated and eliminated. The analyses concentrated on finding crop protectants, pesticides and stock preservation agents. At the conclusion of the project, a comprehensive collection of data on pesticide pollution in organically grown fruit and vegetables is available for the first time.
677 samples of fruit, vegetables and herbs were examined for at least 250 pesticides during the course of the project. The results demonstrate clearly that organically grown fruit and vegetables contain significantly less amounts of pesticides than comparable goods produced by conventional agriculture.
No pesticides, very low traces or levels of pesticides allowed in organic agriculture were detected in 95 % of all samples taken under the BNN monitoring system. No contamination at all was found in 86 % of all samples. Residues in excess of the scattering range of the BNN orientation value were analysed in 4.4 % of the samples. The maximum residue level (MRL) allowed by law was only exceeded by 5 samples of fruit and vegetables (0.7 %). Of the conventional fruit and vegetables grown in the EU more than 5 % of samples exceed the MRL.
A total of over 1.200 analysis results were stored in a database. A bromide database was furthermore set up. Project participants, official and certifications bodies can call up the data from www.bnn-monitoring.de. Any residues found during the monitoring project of BNN Herstellung und Handel caused extensive investigations to be launched. These have enabled previously unrecognised weak points to be uncovered and rectified in the growth, storage, transport and further-processing of organic foodstuffs.
The BNN Herstellung und Handel monitoring system has been set forth as from
01–01–2005 under private sponsorship with 25 participants at present.
Keywords: Quality management, pesticide contamination, monitoring, organic product quality
Relevance to our study:
Highly relevant as this report gives a general outline about the pesticide problem of various organic products originating from different countries. These results might be used as a indicator especially when collecting data set 1 and 2 from Turkey.
Relevancy on a scale from 1 to 5 = 4
Review status: Finished
Review started on
Reviewed by Elisabeth Rüegg?
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