A new report from the consumer advocacy group Foodwatch has thrown a wrench into the works of European food safety. The NGO is calling for an urgent overhaul of controls after detecting chemicals strictly prohibited in the European Union (EU) in everyday products imported from third countries.

The alarming figures from the survey

Foodwatch had 64 consumer products (national brands and store brands) purchased in France, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands analyzed in a laboratory. The results are revealing:

1. 70% of the products tested (45 out of 64) contain residues of pesticides banned in Europe.
2. Some products contain up to 20 different chemical substances .
3. 14 products illegally exceed the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) authorized by the EU.

Examples of products flagged on the market:

Product	Brand / Store	Country of purchase	Prohibited substances detected
Ground sweet paprika	Ducros	France	Chlorfenapyr & Flonicamide (insecticides)
Thai rice	Winged Bull	France	Anthraquinone (beyond legal limits)
Rice	Lidl	Austria	Acetamiprid (neonicotinoid)
Cumin	Edeka & Lidl	Germany	Flamprop (herbicide)

Note: Among the most frequently found substances are three neonicotinoids ("bee killers") as well as isoprothiolane, a fungicide widely used on rice crops.

Europe's regulatory "double game"

How can we explain such a presence on our shelves? The NGO points to serious legal loopholes and denounces a "boomerang effect" :

1. Toxic export: Europe bans the use of these pesticides on its soil, but allows its manufacturers to produce and export them to third countries.
2. The return to the plate: These same third countries use these chemicals on their crops, which are then re-imported and sold on the European market.
3. The absence of zero tolerance: When a pesticide is banned in Europe, the European Commission does not automatically lower its maximum residue limit (MRL) to zero for imported products.

The "Omnibus" project in the crosshairs

This warning comes as Brussels prepares a food safety reform, dubbed the "Omnibus" package. Far from reassuring, this draft law is provoking anger among NGOs. Foodwatch denounces it as a "general relaxation of rules" in the name of administrative simplification. If the text is adopted as is by the European Parliament, it could:

1. Granting unlimited authorizations to certain substances by eliminating mandatory periodic reviews.
2. Impose very burdensome individual impact studies instead of an automatic reduction in residue limits.

Foodwatch's appeal

Faced with this situation, the NGO is calling for the immediate establishment of a maximum residue limit of zero for all unauthorized pesticides, the definitive cessation of trade in these toxic substances, and is urging Parliament and Member States to massively reject the "Omnibus" bill.