Japan detects pesticide residues in Chinese green vegetables exceeding the standard by 42 times: The problem lies not in the "barriers" but in the "lack of testing"
Recently, Nara Prefecture in Japan reported that the residue of difenoconazole in a type of Chinese-produced green vegetables exceeded its standard by 42 times. This pesticide, originally used for disinfecting apples, was found in green vegetables. The public's questions directly hit the core of the export process: Why can crops with excessive pesticide residues of this type pass domestic inspections?
When trying to find a solution, the so - called "green barriers" are not the key. What really stands out is the wide gap between China and Europe, the United States, and Japan in the number of pesticide residue testing items. Many pesticide indicators that are crucial to health are not even included in China's testing scope. This is not a dispute about "whether the standards are strict or not", but a fundamental difference regarding "whether there is supervision or not".
Apples: The "Detection Blind Spot" of China's No. 1 Fruit
Apples are the "backbone" of China's fruit industry (accounting for 27.9% of the country's total fruit output), and the prevention and control of pests and diseases still rely on chemical pesticides. However, China's pesticide residue testing for apples only covers six items, while the number of testing items in Japan is nearly 60 times that of China.
What does this mean? For example, a certain pesticide that is banned in Japan may be completely "unregulated" in apple cultivation in China: farmers use it, testing agencies don't check it, and it finally enters the market or is exported - until it is "intercepted" by the standards of other countries.
Cucumbers: The "Low Standard Trap" of High-Risk Crops
The high-humidity growth environment of cucumbers is likely to induce pests and diseases, so the amount of pesticides used is much higher than that of ordinary vegetables. In 2008 - 2009, Greenpeace randomly inspected and found that cucumbers were the "vegetables with the most types of agricultural residues" in supermarkets in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (4 - 13 types).
However, China only conducts 10 items of pesticide residue tests on cucumbers, which is more than 34 times less than that in Japan. When the Ministry of Health responded that the standards have not been exceeded, the subtext was: Our standards themselves do not cover those pesticides. The so - called meeting the standards is just self - consolation of meeting the low standards.
Mushrooms: "One Test" under the Illusion of "Pesticide-Free"
"The fact that mushrooms don't need pesticides" is a common perception among the public, but this only applies to wild mushrooms. Artificially cultivated mushrooms are susceptible to diseases such as brown rot, and pesticides must be used for control. However, China only conducts one item of pesticide residue testing on mushrooms.
What's even more dangerous is that the residual pesticides in China are mainly organophosphorus and organochlorine pesticides. Such pesticides will not be excreted through metabolism but will accumulate in the human body. Long - term exposure may induce cell carcinogenesis. One test simply cannot cover these "cumulative risks".
Spinach: There are "herbicides" specified in international standards, but China has not conducted inspections on them
As a common leafy green vegetable, the international standards for pesticide residues in spinach cover three categories: insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. However, the Chinese standards for spinach have no limits on herbicides, and the number of testing items is far less than those of the European Union, Japan, and the United States.
More importantly, spinach has an active absorption capacity for "chlorpyrifos" in the soil - the residual amount is directly and positively correlated with the soil concentration. However, the number of detection items in China is more than 20 times less than that in Japan, which is equivalent to giving up the supervision of the "soil - crop" transfer residues. If the chlorpyrifos in the soil exceeds the standard, the spinach will be poisonous, but our detection simply cannot find it out.
The "Catching Up" of China's Pesticide Residue Standards: Still a "Magnitude" Behind International Standards
As the chair country of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, China has introduced a series of policies on pesticide residues since 2005. The Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture, once set the goal of "increasing the number of pesticide residue standards to around 7,000 within three years".
But in comparison with the international situation: The European Union has 145,000 standards for pesticide residues, and the number of testing items in Japan is in the tens of thousands. The goal of 7,000 items is only 1/20 of that of the European Union. This means that in the next few years, there will still be a large number of "blind spots" in the supervision of pesticide residues in Chinese fruits and vegetables, and the use of many pesticides still "has no standard to follow".
The testing system is too much of a joke: The root cause of the loss of credibility
Restricting pesticide residues is a global challenge, but China's testing system appears "extensive":
- Apple inspection for 6 items vs. Nearly 60 times that in Japan;
- 10 items are tested for cucumbers, which is 34 times more than that in Japan.
- One item of mushroom testing vs. Full coverage in Europe, the United States, and Japan;
- Detection of herbicide deficiency in spinach vs. Three - category full control of international standards.
This kind of "missing-items" inspection is, in essence, a "perfunctory" attitude towards food safety. Nowadays, domestic food safety issues have made the regulatory authorities lose credibility - the public no longer believes in "meeting the standards" because "the standards themselves are incomplete".
Solve problems from the source: improving the standards is the only way out
Establishing and improving pesticide residue standards is not a stopgap measure to "cope with trade barriers", but the fundamental approach to safeguard "food safety" from the source.
- All pesticides that may pose a threat to health should be included in the testing.
- Ensure that each standard is aligned with international advanced levels.
- First, make the number of testing items catch up with the international threshold.
Only in this way can consumers be convinced that the vegetables they buy are safe and the credibility of the food safety supervision system be restored. After all, the bottom line of food safety has never been to take action only when others detect problems but to conduct strict self - inspections first.