Some of the fruit and vegetables making their way to consumers have had excessive pesticide content because of delays in the testing process, the head of the competition watchdog has admitted.
The chairman of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, Marcel Pizzuto, told the Times of Malta that the more than 100 tests carried out on locally grown produce every year are not carried out in Malta.
Yet, the authority could not halt the sale of any greens before results were obtained, often weeks after the initial sample was taken.
“We take samples but we can’t stop farmers from selling their produce at that stage – we need proof. And if we do find that there is an excessive amount of pesticides, which we have done in the past, the produce would have already been sold and eaten by consumers,” Mr Pizzuto said.
Consumers are at risk and it shouldn’t be the case
He said the authority often took the farmers to court but this was “too late”.
Mr Pizzuto insisted the authority did not find an alarming amount of produce with excessive pesticide levels. However, the current system still exposed consumers to the possibility of consuming excessive levels of anti-pest chemicals.
Between five and eight per cent of samples taken by the authority in recent years were found to contain excessive pesticides.
“We don’t find many cases and you would think it’s more alarming. Still, consumers are at risk and it shouldn’t be the case,” Mr Pizzuto said.
He explained that, in the absence of a local pesticide lab, the authority sent samples to accredited sites in Italy and Spain.
The authority, however, is lobbying for the use of local facilities instead, as this would see tests take a few hours as opposed to days.
Mr Pizzuto said the national forensics lab was already set up to conduct such tests and a move there made sense as tests could begin almost immediately.
The current use of overseas labs, he said, also put a significant financial burden on the authority.
“We cannot send the samples in cargo. We have to send them with the person who took them, carrying them by hand and bringing them back down. The chain of custody over the sample is never broken but this isn’t cheap,” he said.
Food tested in Italy and Spain
The excessive cost, however, did not stop there. Mr Pizzuto said that, although the foreign laboratories were internationally accredited, defence lawyers could still request to cross examine those who conducted the tests when the matter wound up in court.
Can you imagine? We have to fly a lab technician down from Spain, pay for their hotel
“Can you imagine? We have to fly a lab technician down from Spain, pay for their hotel and give them an allowance. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
The system poses even more problems. Mr Pizzuto also pointed to a case last year in which local strawberry samples were sent to a different lab in the UK which used different measures for pesticides.
The results indicated that the strawberries were 10 times over the national limit and lengthy legal proceedings were again slated to begin against the producer.
It was only later that the authority found the strawberries had been wrongly tested and were well within the acceptable pesticide range.
‘Risk to health’
The European Food Safety Authority says residues resulting from the use of products intended to protect plant food may pose a risk to public health.
The EU has regulations on the use of pesticides and maximum levels of residues.
Activists campaigning for the reduction of pesticide use worldwide say pesticides have been linked to a wide variety of health hazards, from headaches and nausea to cancer and endocrine disruption.
Also, chronic health effects may occur years after minimal exposure to pesticides ingested from food and water.
Fears for consumer rights watchdog
The consumer rights watchdog could be left with little more than a bark as a court decides whether or not to take away its bite.
Godwin Mangion, who heads the MCCAA’s Competition Department, said the authority was facing the possibility of having its power to enforce fines diminished or removed all together, following complaints that its penalties were too harsh.
“This would be a step backwards. The MCCAA’s main deterrent is its ability to impose administrative penalties to businesses found in the wrong. If this is no longer the case, we won’t be able to take much action,” he said.
The authority is facing legal action from the Federation of Estate Agents which is objecting to a €1.25 million fine for alleged breaches in competition rules.
According to the Competition Act as amended in 2011, the authority has the power to investigate and sanction behaviour deemed to restrict competition and, if necessary, impose an “administrative fine” of 10 per cent of the turnover of the undertaking.
Failure to pay such fine would result in a criminal offence subject to another fine of between €1,000 and €20,000.
The federation, however, is claiming this fine is too high to be considered administrative and is calling on the Constitutional Court to step in.
Mr Mangion, whose department investigates irregular business practices, from minor price fixing to cartels, said the court decision was expected this week.
“This doesn’t just pose problems for us, it could have repercussions on several entities which impose administrative fines,” Mr Mangion warned.