According to various reports(1)(2) and a study(3) carried out in Turkey, 620 pesticides were found and analysed in 90 different types of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

In all, 15.6% of the vegetables were found to contain banned substances, while 56 different pesticides were detected in vegetables examined in August 2019, 96 in October 2019 and 139 in November 2019.

77% of the products met at least one of the toxicity criteria of the 2016 EU Pesticide Blacklist, which classifies all pesticides according to their risk to human health.

Turkey is continuing to use banned substances in pesticides and those substances consequently enter foods exported to the EU and end up in its food chain, with potentially serious consequences for both consumers’ health and the environment.

In view of this:

1. Can the Commission say what measures it could take to bring Turkey into line with EU legislation and prevent the use of banned substances in pesticides?

2. How does it plan to prevent the import into the EEA of products contaminated with pesticides such as those mentioned in the above study?

Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission here.