Organic food monitoring program Baden-Württemberg Outcome and experiences of the organic food monitoring program of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany) Prof. Dr. Manfred Edelhäuser
Outline Organic monitoring program of Baden-Württemberg Residue Situation in Organic and Conventional Food Results of the Organic-Monitoring-Program Legal Judgement on Residues in Organic Products Conclusions Folie 2
Organic-Monitoring Baden-Württemberg Established in 2002, a program within the organic agriculture support plan - promote and control Aims: Fraud protection React to the increasing supply in the market Control the self-control Describe the residue situation in organic food Compare with conventional food Folie 3
Covered Subjects Parameter 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Pesticide residues in plant products x x x x x x x Irradiation x x x x x GMOs x x x x x x Mykotoxines x x x x x x Dioxines x x x x x x Organochlorine- and organobromine- x x x x x contaminants in animal products Nitrate in frozen spinach x x x x Antibiotics in honey x Ochratoxine A and copper in wine x Pharmacological active substances x x x Contaminants (acrylamid, furan) x Folie 4
Motives for Buying Organic-Food Support organic farmers Friendliness to Animals Safe the planet for future generations 14 15 16 Better Taste 21 Prevent Illnesses Reminds me of former times 29 30 Absence of chemicals and additives 47 Source: Frankfurter Rundschau 07/10/2004 % 0 10 20 30 40 50 Folie 5
Pesticide Residues: Contamination-Pathways of Organic Food Drift Cross-Contamination Packing, Processing, Storing From Adjacent Fields Illegal Applications Pollution Persistent Contaminants in Soil Atmosphere/Irrigation Water Bio-Ware Label Changes Blending with Conventional Products Folie 6
Organic-Monitoring Baden-Württemberg Pesticide Residues Organic vs. Conventional Percentage of Samples with Residues (2002-2006) Sw eet Peppers Tomatoes Lettuce Citrus Appels/Pears Berries Grapes 3% 8% 25% 19% 31% 17% 29% 41% 88% conv. org. 83% 99% 90% 95% 96% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% All Residue findings are based on a broad analytical spectrum (> 500 compounds) and low detection limits (<<0.01 mg/kg) Folie 7
Organic-Monitoring Baden-Württemberg (2003-2006) Pesticide Residues Organic vs. Conventional Percentage of Samples with individual pesticides > 0.01 mg/kg Sweet Peppers Tomatoes Lettuce Citrus Apples/Pears Berries Grapes 10% 2% 4% 13% 1% 3% 9% 62% 67% 80% 78% 87% 85% conv. org. 97% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Folie 8
Legal-Judgement of Residues in Organic Samples EU-Directive only regulates the production ( No synthetic pesticides )...however not their constitution no special MRLs for organic food exist How do I deal with it? Folie 9
Legal Judgement of Organic Samples with Residues Non Realistic: Expect absolute absence of residues EVEN IN THIS HERE THIS ORGANIC IS POLAR THE ULTIMATE ICE-SAMPLE, STUFF SIMPLY PROOF!! YOU CAN FIND CANNOT ENVIRONMENTAL WORK POLLUTANTS Folie 10
Legal Judgement of Organic Samples with Residues Realistic: Expectation that organic food is produced according to the Organic Food Directive and that it contains clearly lower residue amounts than conventional food As soon as the presence of residues in an organic sample is such, that it leads to the conclusion that the rules of organic agriculture have not been followed, the labelling as organic is judged as misleading Folie 11
Residues in Organic Samples Legal Judgement Before judgement a case-to-case assessment of the situation should be performed Various Factors should be taken into account: Drift Cross-contamination during processing, transport Environment contamination (persistent pollutants) Residue concentration effects through drying etc. Typical residue situation in conventional food Folie 12
Residues in Organic Samples Legal Judgement Experience with analyses of organic samples shows: ca. 30% contain residues but only ca. 10% contain residues > 0.01 mg/kg NOTE: random and targeted sampling! Action Threshold is 0.01 mg/kg (10 ppb), when threshold is exceeded, measures are initiated Identical to the MRL in the Baby-Food-Directive Identical to the MRL of non-registered pesticides The value is also used by various Organic-Food- Associations Folie 13
Organic-Monitoring Baden-Württemberg - Pesticides 2002-2006 2007 2008 Total number of organic samples analyzed for pesticides 1958 494 557 Samples without detectable residues 1369 (70 %) 350 (71%) 427 (77%) Samples with residues above 0.01 mg/kg (above action threshold) 195 (10 %) 55 (11%) 47 (8%) Samples considered not to be organic (mislabelling) 110 (5.6 %) 36 (7.3%) 28 (5%) Samples with multiple residues 211 (11 %) 63 (13%) 36 (6.5%) Folie 14
Conclusions Organic produce is not always free of pesticide residues 29 % of organic samples contained residues (10 % > 0.01 mg/kg) (2002-2006) in 2008 23 % (8% > 0.01 mg/kg) Mean pesticide-level in fruits and vegetables labelled as organic was found to be about 40-400 times lower that of conventional samples The results show that the action threshold of 0.01 mg/kg for pesticide residues in organic products is realistic. About 5 % of organically labelled samples (based on targeted sampling) were suspected to be mislabelled (pesticide treatments, mixed with conventional produce, contaminated during processing etc.) To prevent fraud monitoring and enforcement is necessary, a harmonised approach and legal requirements have to be established and should be based on a legal limit of 0.01 mg/kg However, there are significant differences to conventional products 90 % of conventional fruit and vegetables contained residues in 2006, (73 % > 0.01 mg/kg), in 2008 about 80 % contained residues BADEN Folie 15
Organic-Monitoring Baden-Württemberg - Pesticides.further informations Folie 16
Internet: Homepage CVUA Stuttgart - Organic-Monitoring Baden-Württemberg http://www.untersuchungsaemter-bw.de/pdf/oekomonitoring2002-2006_en.pdf Folie 17
Organic-Monitoring Baden-Württemberg Thank you for your attention! Folie 18
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