This is according to a recently published report by PAN Europe, a non-governmental organization advocating for the reduction of pesticide use.
The organization’s experts analyzed 59 samples of apples for pesticide residues in 13 European countries: Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Switzerland.
“The results show that 85% of the samples found residues of several pesticides … and only 7% of tested samples did not contain them,” belta.by writes with reference to the mentioned document.
Some pesticides are particularly dangerous for humans
In 71% of cases, the experts identified pesticides considered to be among the most dangerous in the EU, so-called “candidates for substitution” (i.e. chemical products of a lower toxicity class).
Also, 64% of the apples tested contained at least one PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pesticide and 36% contained neurotoxic pesticides. In particular, fludioxonil was found in almost 40% of the samples: it is a pesticide from the PFAS group, which was classified as an endocrine disruptor in the EU in 2024. It is toxic to human liver and kidneys, and has a detrimental effect on fish and aquatic ecosystems in general.
A spokesperson for PAN Europe said, “One of the most striking results is that 85% of the apples tested contained residues of several pesticides. The European Food Safety Authority was tasked 20 years ago to develop a methodology to regulate exposure to pesticide mixtures, but it has yet to fulfill this legal obligation.”
He said, “A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that ingestion of pesticides in food causes infertility and possibly cancer.”
What’s particularly surprising?
Over the past five years, regulations for virtually all international safety/quality standards for fruits and vegetables – the so-called “supermarket chain standards” – have tightened dramatically. And not only the permissible residual concentration of agrochemical substances (practically all of them, not only pesticides), but also their combinations have been reduced. In particular, their permissible quantity according to the most widespread standards is no more than two to four.
In this regard, the facts revealed by PAN Europe (regardless of the degree of “purity of the experiment”) suggest unpleasant thoughts.
