Pesticide residue: How safe is the food you are eating?

It is not just a right to food, but it is a right to quality food; and healthy diets are a critical tool to our adequate living. Fruits and vegetables are critical components of nutritious and healthy diets, but there are growing concerns about food safety risks linked to their consumption. 

Several factors have contributed to this growing anxiety, according to the scientists, including the widespread use of synthetic pesticides and low adoption of non-chemical pest control methods.

The issue is further compounded by weak enforcement of pesticide regulations, meaning that unsafe levels of pesticide residue can enter the food supply chain, affecting food markets.

Pesticide residue, particularly in fruits and vegetables, has emerged as the most commonly cited food safety concern among consumers in East Africa. This fear is fuelled by the heavy use of chemical pesticides in farming practices across the region, a new study by CABI has revealed. Countries like Kenya and Uganda, where agriculture is a dominant sector, have seen widespread reliance on synthetic pesticides due to challenges in controlling pests in tropical climates.

Unfortunately, these pesticides often applied improperly, have led to contamination of produce, raising concerns about potential health risks. This study, surveyed consumers in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Results published in Global Food Security on September 11 revealed that fear of pesticide residue influences purchasing decisions. In addition, results show that pesticide-related food safety concerns far outweigh worries about microbial contamination or food additives.

With many consumers becoming more cautious, many are opting to buy fruits and vegetables from specialist shops, shunning street vendors for fear of exposure to harmful chemicals. This trend is particularly strong in urban areas where consumers have access to more information and can afford higher-quality produce.

In our country between 84-100 per cent of the smallholder farmers who include fruit and vegetable farmers rely on chemical pesticides, and nearly half of these farmers spray their crops weekly. This over-reliance on chemicals has heightened concerns about the potential health risks.

The scientists found that, on average, only 56 per cent of the respondents across the surveyed countries had received any information about food safety, a gap that is particularly pronounced in Uganda and Pakistan, where fewer than half of the participants had been exposed to food safety messaging via media or health officials.

Other studies at Makerere University have revealed that farmers, market vendors and consumers often misinterpret the role of pesticides in fruits and vegetable production.

These concerns about pesticides have broader implications for food security. Even though fruits and vegetables are essential to a balanced diet, providing important nutrients, we need to build a food vigilant society. A society that not only consumes a nutritious diet but also safe food; it is a constitutional entitlement.

Let farmers be sensitised on the safe use of pesticides, as their misuse violate the right to adequate food and to a clean and healthy environment guaranteed in the Constitution. If we get too much of unhealthy food that gives our bodies wrong instructions, we shall be at risk of developing diseases like cancer and many other healthy conditions, what we eat is central to our health.

Muzinga Jamilu, Msc Animal Science

[email protected]