Entire shipment of peaches to be destroyed: Insecticide found in fruit was banned in Serbia in 2019

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"The insecticide that was found in a shipment of peaches that was returned from Croatia has been banned in Serbia since 2019, so after laboratory analyses the entire shipment will be destroyed," said the director of the Institute for General and Physical Chemistry, Stevan Blagojevic.

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"15 years ago, very strict regulations were introduced and many pesticides were removed, and a new generation of less harmful pesticides and insecticides was introduced. Control and regulations are getting stricter every year," Blagojevic told Tanjug.

He added that the regulations in Serbia are similar to those in the European Union and added that, according to the law, if the level of a pesticide or insecticide in fruit or vegetables is higher than allowed, such a product cannot be put on the market.

"The insecticide found in the peaches is banned, because the EU claims it is genotoxic. It has also been banned in our country, in any concentration, since several years ago. We suspect that someone had it in stock and used it now," explained Blagojevic.

He stressed he does not believe that the peaches in question were put on the market by any large producer, nor that a large amount of fruit was contaminated, because large producers do not want to associate their name with the use of illegal pesticides or insecticides, given that nowadays information spreads quickly, and in that way endanger their business.

Blagojevic also said that before use, fruits and vegetables should be kept in water for a while, since the use of detergents has no effect because it only removes grease, while the use of baking soda changes the acidic value of the fruit.

(Telegraf Biznis)