By Marko Vidojković
„There is hardly anything healthier to eat than raw fruits and vegetables. And it tastes good, especially the fruit.
When the summer is this hot, sinking your teeth into a peach from the fridge is better than eating ice cream containing carrageenan.
Or when autumn comes and plums become ripe – so juicy, sweet, lilac on the outside and yellow on the inside, like on a political poster from 1992.
Yum, yum. For young and old, Serbia is famous for its fruit trees, beautiful and healthy, the best in the world. At least that’s how we comfort ourselves.
On September 1, it was announced that Serbian plums were returned from the Croatian border, due to the presence of the pesticide chlorpyrifos in them, which is banned in the European Union.
A few weeks earlier, Serbian peaches sprayed with chlorpyrifos were returned from the Croatian border too.
Both these plums and peaches probably ended up in Serbian grocery stores, on Serbian tables, in Serbian stomachs and in Serbian bloodstreams.
What is chlorpyrifos? It is a pesticide from the group of organic phosphates, which is used to kill pests, such as worms and bugs. It was patented in 1966 and since then it has been widely used.
In 1999, the World Health Organization declared chlorpyrifos to be moderately hazardous to humans.
The UK was the first to ban it, in 2016, the EU in 2020, and a complete ban was announced in the USA in 2021.
Why? While it has a relatively small effect on adults (larger ingested amounts can “only” cause myocarditis and regular inhalation is one of the potential causes of lung cancer), on children, and especially on newborns, this poison has a far more harmful effect.
It attacks the nervous system and is believed to be responsible for nerve damage, mental retardation, autism and reduced IQ.
The next time you tell a pregnant Serbian woman to take an apple, keep in mind that the apple has probably been sprayed with chlorpyrifos.
Science has established that a pregnant mother, through her bloodstream, passes this substance to her fetus, which can cause significant damage.
Fortunately, the state carefully monitors the level of chlorpyrifos in food.
Unfortunately, the previous sentence is false.
Moreover, according to the information I dispose of, the Ministry of Agriculture imported chlorpyrifos this year, for the purpose of spraying sugar beets.
Serbia is also known for importing frozen meat that has expired in the civilized world. This expiration period is somewhat longer in Serbia and therefore the sale of expired meat scraps is very lucrative.
Once in the EU, you come across affordable, quality foods of strictly controlled origin, you realize that the fairy tales about Serbian fruits and vegetables are really just fairy tales.
Quality control of food products in Serbia is at such a level that, once you buy raw fruits and vegetables, it is best for you to pray for them not to negatively affect your health.
In order to remove the pesticides from the fruit you intend to consume, you need to peel it first and then wash it for about 45 minutes.
Perhaps, it is best to give up consuming food at all.“
(Danas, 05.09.2023)
https://www.danas.rs/kolumna/marko-vidojkovic/trovacnica/
This post is also available in: Italiano