Thailand’s Pesticide Alert Network Reveals Over 40% of Sampled Fruits, Vegetables Contaminated

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Pesticide Alert Network (ThaiPAN) has revealed that an annual survey of vegetables and fruits has found high toxic contaminates on 41% of sampled vegetables and fruits.

ThaiPan officials along with local health officials, farmers and residents collected 286 samples of common vegetables and fruits from retail stores and wet markets in 10 separate provinces for laboratory testing ThaiPAN coordinator Prokchol Ousap told the Bangkok Post.

The samples were sent for standard laboratory tests in the United Kingdom, and high toxic contamination was found in 41% of them, she said.

Vegetables with the highest contamination were Chinese mustard greens, kale, hot basil, parsley, chilli and cauliflower. Fruits with the highest percentages of harmful contamination were tangerines, rose apples, guavas and grapes.

Unsafe contamination was found in 33.3% of imported fruit and 48.7% of local fruit. Unhealthy contaminants were found in 44% of samples from retail stores, and 39% of samples from wet markets, Ms Prokchol said.

The level of high contamination was slightly down on last year, when 46% of samples were found to be harmfully contaminated.