Pesticides Found in School Fruit

TESTS in Britain have found more than a third of food products contained pesticide traces including fruit for children.

Analysis of 3,562 food and drink samples by the Pesticide Residues Committee discovered 34.8 per cent had chemical traces.

Sixty items contained residues above the legal limit. These included an apple destined for a school as part of a government scheme. Some other samples from the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme including some bananas, pears, strawberries, tomatoes and citrus fruit had pesticide traces, but these were all within legal limits.

The committee, which advises ministers, analysed imported and British-produced food collected last year from shops, markets, ports and wholesalers. Just over a quarter of UK items had pesticide residues. This rose to 41.1 per cent for imported items.

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