Must Read 41 percent of vegetables in Thai markets exceed contamination standards

[Assurancetourix]

6 hours ago, ezzra said:

It's all boils down to the crop's yield, farmer's common sense dictates that, the more deadly pesticide they spray the less damage to the crop the more money they make and da hell with the end user's health,

now, if the government can control and educate theses guys, then a solution is in sight, if not, which is most likely to happen, then we're all doomed to continue eating poised veg and fruits...

 

With a flat;
many farmers know very well that pesticides are dangerous for health, so do they:
vegetables and fruits with pesticides are sold
and on another lot of land they grow the same vegetables and fruits but without pesticides for their personal consumption.

An interesting article written last year, April 2018

 

and a very interesting map where we can see that the farmers of Issan do not use or very few pesticides.

 

https://www.thethailandlife.com/truth-about-pesticides-thailand

[potless]

46 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

It has just occurred to me just now after reading your comment about the impaired brain function that Thailand seems to suffer so much of it and that this could be the reason!  

You took the words right out of my keyboard. The great mystery finally explained.

[canuckamuck]

6 hours ago, maxisrael said:

One if the reasons we planted our own veggies and have a  large hydroponic greenhouse  for our family where  we grow several types of salads melons and tomato even chillies, it's nice to have two rai of land...... 

We have a large fishpond as well where we grow tilapia the natural way without hormones to grow them fast so it takes one year to a size of about 800 gram instead of 6 months and we added around 1000 juvenile fish last year and they  breed well so plenty of stock. ????

Just FYI, if your tilapia are breeding they won't be growing very quickly. Get yourself some mono-sex fry next time you clear out your pond and you will see quite an improvement in the growth rate.

I tried letting them breed to keep the ponds restocked. Ended up with zillions of smalls and very few bigs.

[elgenon]

Is toxicity really a surprise when they are allowed to use substances banned in other countries? 

[FarFlungFalang]

16 minutes ago, potless said:

You took the words right out of my keyboard. The great mystery finally explained.

I must apologise as my own self induced brain impairment,which usually only lets stupidity and idiocy through sometimes malfunctions and let things like this to escape.

[potless]

7 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I must apologise as my own self induced brain impairment,which usually only lets stupidity and idiocy through sometimes malfunctions and let things like this to escape.

You are forgiven. Double down on the rice and throw in some raw veg. 

[DrTuner]

Thai food, so exotic and healthy! Only 5kg of sugar and 500g of sodium per serving, with the delicious pesticides to help it go down with the beer brewed with rice. Yummy yum, six stars on tripadvisor!

[Ebumbu]

I suppose washing them makes no difference. Oh well. You take the good with the bad here. 

[DrTuner]

6 hours ago, maxisrael said:

One if the reasons we planted our own veggies and have a  large hydroponic greenhouse  for our family where  we grow several types of salads melons and tomato even chillies, it's nice to have two rai of land...... 

We have a large fishpond as well where we grow tilapia the natural way without hormones to grow them fast so it takes one year to a size of about 800 gram instead of 6 months and we added around 1000 juvenile fish last year and they  breed well so plenty of stock. ????

Have you checked the water you use for toxins? The groundwater here can probably be dried in the sun and reused as antibiotics and pesticides.

[ocddave]

I figure if we stay here long enough, that we will all die a miserable cancer filled death. Polluted water, chemical/pesticide infused food, and air pollution, welcome to the LOS!

Edited June 27, 2019 by ocddave

[khunPer]

Thai logic: If chemical pesticides are good for growing vegetables and fruit, double as much must be double as good...

[marcusarelus]

Just now, DrTuner said:

Have you checked the water you use for toxins? The groundwater here can probably be dried in the sun and reused as antibiotics and pesticides.

 

5 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Thai food, so exotic and healthy! Only 5kg of sugar and 500g of sodium per serving, with the delicious pesticides to help it go down with the beer brewed with rice. Yummy yum, six stars on tripadvisor!

Time for your beer lesson.  Yes there is rice in American beer.  When the first German brewers began setting up shop in the U.S., they made the beers they were trained to make back home — dark lagers that were easy enough to brew with American barley. The beers were heavy, though, and American drinkers found them overly rich. To accommodate local tastes, breweries began experimenting with corn, which lightened the body without reducing alcohol content," according to Allworth. 

Eventually, pilsners became trendy across Europe, but American barley wasn't able to achieve the same effects, so rice and white corn were used instead. The result was good enough for Anheuser Brewing to win the grand prize in a European competition in France in 1878.

https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/2019/02/13/bud-light-corn-syrup-commercial/2849375002/

 

[DrTuner]

4 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Time for your beer lesson.  Yes there is rice in American beer. 

Reinheitsgebot man, Reinheitsgebot. The only way to go.

 

Now as for the veggie problem, seems there's already a solution: https://edition.cnn.com/videos/business/2019/06/26/arbys-megetables-marrot-meat-vegetables-zw-sf-orig.cnn-business/video/playlists/business-fast-food/

[Kalasin Jo]

7 hours ago, maxisrael said:

One if the reasons we planted our own veggies and have a  large hydroponic greenhouse  for our family where  we grow several types of salads melons and tomato even chillies, it's nice to have two rai of land...... 

We have a large fishpond as well where we grow tilapia the natural way without hormones to grow them fast so it takes one year to a size of about 800 gram instead of 6 months and we added around 1000 juvenile fish last year and they  breed well so plenty of stock. ????

We have a small market garden and the family sell in the local village markets. No sprays, so unless it's already in the water supply our veg and fruit is good.

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

"Human life expectancy has increased significantly in the past 20 - 30 years, as has quality of life."

 

Some sort of evidence would be appreciated to support this assertion.

 

Why did you then go on to say "If I had been born 150 years ago. I'd be well and truly dead now."  Surely you should have continued 'talking' about the last 20-30 years?

 

Having said this, I spent most of my adult life eating mostly organic food - so have a LESSER problem with being poisoned nowadays too ????.

You're too lazy to do a cursory search on Google? Here's a hint: type in "Human life expectancy" in the search panel.

Quality of life? Just take a look at cars. Airbags, ABS, traction control etc. etc. 50 years ago, the vast majority of vehicles still had drum brakes. Or perhaps you don't regard the computer you are responding on, a technological improvement to your quality of life.

I had bladder cancer 13 years ago. BCG immunotherapy was first used for bladder cancer 40 years ago. I'll leave you to connect the dots to my previous comment.

If you believe eating "organic" food is better for you, fine. Although the term does sound ridiculous, as all food with or without pesticides is organic. I've never heard of inorganic food.

[StayinThailand2much]

7 hours ago, RobboR said:

I never eat salad or any raw veg here. Only buy imported fruit.

Any veg I do buy I peel and cook, which apparently gets rid of most of the contamination.

The other day I was contemplating more fresh fruit and vegetables in my diet. Guess, I'll stick to meat with extra meat...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, keemapoot said:

Actually, from an update on channel 3 news this morning, things are worse than in this article. 41% contamination at open markets, but over 60% contamination in food stores like Tops, Foodland, etc... Even those expensive "organic" section veggies tested positive for pesticides. I suppose the reason the stores have higher levels is that they are marketing a better looking product.

 

Your general idea is correct -- according to the Thai-PAN survey test results, supermarket veggies and fruits did have somewhat more contamination overall that fresh market products, but the supermarket levels weren't the over 60% you mention.

 

Here's the chart below from their report on that issue. The first column is supermarket data, the second fresh market data, and the third column overall results.

 

 

Meanwhile, here is their chart of the results from the individual supermarkets vs. the individual fresh market locations overall. It looks like Big C had the worst result of the supermarkets, with half of its samples coming back in the red.

 

 

And on your last point, yes, the so-called premium or various Thai supposed versions of organic came back better than fruit and veggies overall, but hardly clean or pesticide free. Half of the relatively few Organic Thailand and GAP items tested came back in the red.

 

 

 

Thus far, I can only find a Thai language version of their full report. In the past, they've done some EN versions, but you can still follow the basic ideas... Here's the full report in PDF format:

 

ThaiPan 2019 Full Report.pdf

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[potless]

6 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

The other day I was contemplating more fresh fruit and vegetables in my diet. Guess, I'll stick to meat with extra meat...

There is a fair variety of imported frozen fruit and veg in the better supermarkets, hopefully from countries that are more stringent in their farming methods. At my age, its more preservatives that I really need.????

[sweatalot]

I wonder where the contimination is - is it only on the surface and can be removed with water - or is it inside the vegetable where it cannot be removed?

[RichardColeman]

9 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

“The result is shocking as they found that 41% of the samples were contaminated with chemical pesticides,” said Ms. Prokchol.

 

Yes, I bet they were the imported ones !

[DrTuner]

11 minutes ago, potless said:

At my age, its more preservatives that I really need.????

Eat enough kale and your body will look exactly the same as it did 100y from your passing. 

[DrTuner]

1 minute ago, RichardColeman said:

Yes, I bet they were the imported ones !

Evil Farang veggies!

[Derek B]

9 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

They were sent for analysis by ISO-17025 certified laboratories in the United Kingdom.

 

Are there no certified laboratories in Thailand?

If it is available to be purchased it's use is available to be abused by the ignorant or uncaring.

7 hours ago, Nowisee said:

if the government can control and educate theses guys, then a solution is in sight, if not, which is most likely to happen, then we're all doomed to continue eating poised veg and fruits...

Exactly.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

Washing, peeling or boiling has little if any effect on removing chemical residues.Most chemicals used today are systemic or translaminar which means the chemical actualy goes into the flesh of the fruit or vegetable to control development of larvae or fungal spores on or within the produce.

 

 

That's an issue I've been on Thai-PAN about for some years, i.e., that all of their prior reports as best as I could follow totally failed to address the issue of the distinction between systemic (through and through) vs. non systemic (surface) contamination. And in their prior reports, there was no mention of what if any value washing/soaking would have on reducing pesticide levels.

 

This year, their report has one chart that appears to address that issue. And while I don't read Thai, Google Translate appears to have the chart saying that 56% of the pesticide contamination is systemic, meaning absorbed.... But the exact details of how they mean that, I can't discern. Do they mean of the types of chemicals their testing showed, or from their specific test results?

 

Either way, their info would appear to suggest, that washing and soaking may reduce pesticide residues some, but not entirely or even substantially.

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

They would be the ones without the chemicals on them!I'm not sure if the chemicals are only on specific types of veggies or on all of them as in 41% of all tomatoes 41% of all cabbages and so on.

 

From a translated version of their report, some of the fruits and veggies that came back with the most pervasive levels of pesticide residues above recommended limits:

 

Quote

The most common toxic residues in vegetables are Cantonese kale, coriander basil, chilli, cauliflower and cilantro, with 10, 9,8,7,7,7 samples from 12 samples, respectively. The most residual fruit was found in Chompu, guava, and grapes, with 12,11,7,7 residues found in 12 samples, respectively.

Here's the summary charts on their veggie and fruit results:

 

 

 

They only test certain fruits and veggies every cycle, generally those most commonly used by Thais, and the exact items they test seems to vary some from cycle to cycle.

 

Also, some other foods like potatoes, broccoli, zucchini, etc don't get tested at all.  And I can't recall them ever doing any testing on rice, despite its prominence in the Thai diet... Perhaps because it's not a fruit or veggie, but still...

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

Well, if you live in almost any part of the country, it's a toss-up what will kill you first - the air pollution, the vegetables and fruit, the roads, or your missus.

 

Sad but true!!!  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, ToddinChonburi said:

This is why you wash them before you eat them.

 

That helps, but by no means does it entirely or even mostly remove all the chemical residues that don't just sit on the surfaces but instead get absorbed into the flesh of the fruit or veggie.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, Shine 919 said:

Do an audit on Big C and Tesco lotus, macro, that's where I buy my food at least I think it's safe to consume 

 Think again... The fruit and veggies from Big C and Tesco (along with Makro) fared worst among the supermarket testing that was done in the OP report.

 

 

[Jonah Tenner]

6 hours ago, Emdog said:

I used to think it was a crap shoot regarding if you got pesticides etc in your food here.

Given these stats, I now consider more akin to a coin flip

Coin flip of the type: Heads - I win, tails - you lose...

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

I've never heard of inorganic food.

Salt?Iron?

Edited June 27, 2019 by FarFlungFalang
Addition