Pesticide residues found in mango, cucumber, and water spinach samples

Mangoes

THE Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of Hong Kong’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is urging the public to thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables after finding excessive pesticide residues in mango, cucumber, and water spinach samples.

In a statement on July 12, the CFS said that a mango sample was found to contain pesticide residues at levels exceeding the legal limit.

“The CFS collected the mango sample from an online shop for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme,” a CFS spokesman said.

“The test result showed that the sample contained esfenvalerate and fenvalerate both at a level of 0.35 parts per million (ppm), exceeding the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of the two pesticides (both at the level of 0.2 ppm),” he said.

“Based on the levels of pesticide residues detected in the sample, adverse health effects will not be caused under usual consumption,” he added.

On July 5, the CFS said a cucumber sample from a Tsing Yi supermarket also had pesticide residues that exceeded the legal limit. The cucumber product was called “British Cucumber” and it came from the United Kingdom.

Its distributor in HK was Marks and Spencer (Asia Pacific) Limited and its expiry date was June 17, 2018.

“The CFS collected the cucumber sample from a supermarket in Tsing Yi for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test result showed that the sample contained pymetrozine at a level of 0.5 parts per million (ppm), exceeding the maximum residue limit (MRL) of 0.1ppm,” a CFS spokesperson said.

“The CFS has informed the vendor concerned of the irregularity and is tracing the source of the affected product,” he added.

Then on June 29, the CFS also said that a water spinach sample from Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Vegetable Market also had pesticide residues that were beyond the legal limit.

“The test result showed that the sample contained methamidophos at a level of 0.21 parts per million (ppm), exceeding the maximum residue limit (MRL) of 0.05 ppm,” the CFS spokesperson said.

He said that while the levels of pesticide residues found in the two vegetable samples will not cause adverse health effects “under usual consumption,” members of the public should thoroughly rinse vegetables before consuming them.

“Generally speaking, to reduce pesticide residues in vegetables, members of the public can rinse vegetables thoroughly under clean running water, and scrub produce with hard surfaces with a clean brush to remove dirt and substances including pesticides and contaminants from the surface and the crevices, when appropriate,” the CFS spokesperson said.

On the other hand, he warned businessmen that any person who imports, manufactures or sells any food not in compliance with the requirements of the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation “is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for six months upon conviction.”

Since the regulation came into effect on August 1, 2014, the CFS has taken over 147,800 samples at import, wholesale and retail levels for testing.

Together with the unsatisfactory mango sample announced on July 12, a total of 227 food samples (including 219 vegetable and fruit samples) have been detected as having excessive pesticide residues. The overall unsatisfactory rate is less than 0.2 per cent.