Strawberries grown in Spain are among the least contaminated with pesticides in the entire European Union, according to a study published today by PAN Europe (source in Spanish) together with several NGOs that analysed strawberry samples in 11 countries.
At European level, 88% of the strawberries analysed contain pesticide residues. Fifty-eight per cent of the strawberries are contaminated with PFAS, the so-called 'forever chemicals' because of their persistence in the body and the environment, and more than half of the pesticides detected belong to the group of the most hazardous ones authorised in the EU, the candidates for substitution, which should have been progressively phased out since 2011.
Spanish strawberries are the least contaminated
Spain lies well below that average. The study detected only two pesticides in one of the two Spanish samples from conventional farming that were analysed, both authorised and below the legal limit.
If we look at organic strawberries, both in Spain and across the rest of Europe, they were completely free of residues in all the samples analysed, which reinforces organic consumption as the safest option against these toxic substances.
