Tests show high levels of pesticide

The Thai Pesticide Alert Network ( Thai-Pan ) randomly tested fruit samples that contained dangerous residues that were above the safety standards, particularly jujube and oranges.

Thai-PAN representative Prokchol Ousap said on Friday that the system collected 85 specimens of grapes, lion fruit, guava, jujube and oranges, both imported and internally grown, from supermarkets and new markets across 12 provinces, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Rayong from Nov 27–Dec 11.

She claimed that 419 compounds were tested at the BVAQ Laboratory in Thailand for multi-residue before being tested on the fruit. Pesticide residues were found to be exceeding the health common in all fruit varieties tested during the examination, she said.

Also, internally grown fruits were found to contain chlorpyrifos, a dangerous agricultural chemistry that Thailand banned as a Type 4 toxic element, prohibiting its creation, import, export and possession since June 1, 2020, she said.

The results revealed that six tests containing chlorpyrifos at high levels, and that all 15 fruit samples had toxic residues that exceeded the health standard.

For the oranges, three out of the 17 samples had residues within safe limits, while 14 exceeded the safety standard.

Notably, chlorpyrifos was found in four samples, including two domestically grown from Phichit and Chiang Rai and two imported mandarins from China.

In terms of apples, the results revealed that only four samples had no pesticide residues, and only 13 samples had residues that exceeded the standard values. For guava, only one sample was residue-free, while six were within safe limits, and 10 had residues that exceeded the standard.

The dragon fruit test revealed that two samples had no chemical residue, whereas 15 samples had toxic residues, of which nine had residues over the standard value, including one that had been identified as an organic product with a PGS certificate.

According to Ms. Prokchol, Thai-Pan will forward the findings to the state to review the organic certification standard.