PUBLISHED : 29 Oct 2024 at 13:02
NAKHON RATCHASIMA – Grape and fruit juice vendors are reporting plunging sales amid consumer concerns over the contamination found in imported Shine Muscat grapes.
At Therdthai market in Muang district on Tuesday, fruit juice vendor Chananrat Wisetrat, 39, said she frequently bought fruit there to make the fresh juice she sold. Grape juice was normally a popular choice of her customers.
“However, since the reports of chemical contamination in Shine Muscat grapes, customers now rarely order grape juice,” she said.
Ms Chananrat said she now bought only a small amount of Shine Muscat grapes, for those customers who continued to drink grape juice.
The Thai Pesticides Alert Network and the Foundation for Consumers announced on Oct 24 that green Shine Muscat grapes imported from China were found to be heavily contaminated with dangerous chemicals including chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate insecticide banned for use in Thailand.
Ms Chananrat said although some academics said the level of residue in the grapes was not dangerous, consumers remained concerned. She wanted the government to state clearly whether it was safe to eat Shine Muscat grapes, or not.
Thaworn Prommee, a 58-year-old grape vendor at the market, said grape vendors there were in deep trouble as a result of the health scare.
She had previously always sold out the 250 crates of Shine Muscat grapes she normally received in less than a week. Now her employer was deeply stressed, with about 200 crates remaining unsold in his warehouse, Ms Thaworn said.
“Today I haven’t sold even one bunch of Shine Muscat grapes. Although an academic assured consumers that they are safe to eat, people remain worried,” she said.
Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on Tuesday that people should listen to the Food and Drug Administration when it came to Shine Muscat grapes and other parties should be careful when they issue statements on the matter, because they could ruin product sales.
Last week the FDA said that only one sample of Shine Muscat grapes was found contaminated with the banned pesticide chlorpyrifos and they were safe to eat after giving them a good wash.