The Ministry of Health has refuted a Greenpeace claim that a high proportion of fruits and vegetables sold in Beijing supermarkets (including Walmart and Carrefour) contain harmful pesticides, according to a report in today’s Global Times.
" … A notice posted on the ministry’s website said all the 17 pesticides found were normal and the residues were within standards limits.It said the tests were conducted by authorities including the health and agriculture ministries, and the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine. No banned pesticides were detected, the notice said."
The question still remains as to what, exactly, these "standards" are.
Elsewhere on the net, Fooducate.com has a post about an American Journal of Pediatrics report "on Monday showing an increase of 18% in food allergies [in American kids]in a 10 year period starting in 1997."
The reasons behind this increase are unclear, but one possibility is "genetically modified foods. The modified proteins in GM soy or corn, whose byproducts are found in well over 50% of supermarket items, could possibly be causing new allergic reactions."
Although this report does not apply to China, one wonders if a similar trend is happening here, not to mention how all this ties in with pesticide residue …
