Health inspections on fruit and vegetables previously found with excessive pesticide levels have been increased following a damning report by the Auditor General.
The Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority said the collection of samples of produce which had been found to contain high levels of pesticides had become more regular.
Last month, a damning NAO report had found that oranges, carrots, beans, spinach, cucumber, potatoes, sweet peppers and olive oil were all not tested by the Market Surveillance Directorate between 2014 and 2016, even though they had been found to exceed maximum pesticide levels in previous years.
The report was scathing about the loopholes in the testing and monitoring system, noting that none of the 10 most consumed products were tested for pesticide residues by the directorate during that period, including watermelons, sugar melons and vegetable marrows.
“MSD’s sampling with regard to its national programmes for 2014-16 did not consider a number of product categories deemed as high risk. This can be seen through an evaluation of three critical risk variables, namely consumption of produce, product history on the basis of previously failed residue tests as well as product risks as determined by influential agencies,” it said.
None of the 10 most consumed products were tested for pesticide residues by the directorate
Asked about the report, a spokeswoman for the MCCAA said the authority took full note of the NAO’s findings, but insisted the report had shown it was meeting its EU responsibilities.
The authority was currently further reviewing the NAO report in order to look at possible technical as well as administrative improvements.
Nevertheless, the MCCAA spokeswoman said, the current surveillance and enforcement being carried out “require constant review and improvement”.
Another problem identified by the NAO was that during 2016, the authority only received the test results from the foreign contracted laboratory, on average, 40 days following submission – by when most of the produce would have been consumed.
Asked what was being done to improve the situation in the short term, the spokeswoman said the Malta Laboratories Network was investing €30,000 in a pesticide analyser installation kit, centrifuge, fume hood and in specialised training at the University of Maryland, US.
The NAO report had found that during the three-year period the authority had only carried out eight inspections and reviewed 82 plant protection products. None were carried out during 2015.
To make matters worse testing did not extend to around half of the 30 items of agricultural produce considered by the National Statistics Office as being among the most consumed products on the local market.