KOCHI:A couple of months after the Kerala Government wrote to Tamil Nadu, expressing concern over the presence of hazardous pesticide residues in vegetables brought from that state, lab tests conducted on vegetables sourced from Karnataka and from local farmers showed that pesticide residues were within the permissible limits.
A report from the Pesticide Residue Laboratory under the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) at Vellayani stated that vegetables from Kerala farmers were safe to eat.
“The vegetable samples collected for pesticide residue analysis from Thiruvananthapuarm and Kasargod districts, including those of vegetables procured by the Horticorp form Hosur in Karnataka for the Onam sales, were found to be safe for consumption,” said Dr Thomas Biju Mathew, professor-in-charge of the analysis.
“As many as 73 samples of vegetables, such as amaranthus, beans, cucumber, cowpea, brinjal, chilli, bittergourd and ladies finger, were subjected to test. Samples of the ‘cut-vegetables packet’ distributed by the VFPCK, Thiruvananthapuram, were also found to be not containing hazardous chemicals. The vegetables are cut and packed after cleaning, as per the standards prescribed by the KAU,” said the authorities.
Vegetables produced in Madhur, Muliyar, Cherkkala, Kumpala, Mogaral and Puthur in Kasargod - which has earned the title of ‘organic district’ - were also found to be safe to eat.
The officials, meanwhile, stated that tests were not conducted on vegetables brought from Tamil Nadu as random samples collected from the open market have not been submitted by Tamil Nadu, which is mandatory as per the Food Safety rules.
KAU Vice-chancellor Dr P Rajendran said the KAU would establish more pesticide residue labs at Kumarakom, Thrissur and Padannakkad for collecting samples from more farmers and making the facility available to farmers across the State. “The labs will start functioning soon. One they become operational, we will be able to conduct testing of samples free of cost for farmers. The lab at Vellayani, which is the only NABL-accredited facility in the State, will be upgraded to ‘State referral lab,” he said, adding that the university was planning to set up mobile testing facilities to conduct on-the-spot qualitative analyses of pesticide residues in vegetables brought from across the border.
“We are also thinking in terms of a mechanism to check the presence of hazardous chemicals in cooked food, as some of the chemicals might decompose or combine with others during the process of cooking,” he added.