Moldovan agency for food safety's inspectors start sampling of apple orchards

Chisinau, 21 August /MOLDPRES/ – The inspectors of National Agency for Food Safety (ANSA) started sampling in apple orchards in throughout Moldova to determine if fruits do not contains too many pesticides.

Thus, the inspectors from the District Food Safety Authority (DRSA) Edinet took samples of fresh apples from an orchard of 50 ha, located by Edinet city. The sample was shipped to the lab of Vegetable Production and Soil Verification and Certification (VCPVS) to determine whether it was met maximum allowable pesticide residue limit.

According to the ANSA's information and media communication service, it is planned a total amount of 300 samples of fruits and 250 samples of vegetables in 2018. So far, there have been taken 109 samples of vegetables to determine the nitrate content and 154 fruit samples to analise the pesticide residue content.

As a result of tests, there were detected 23 non – conforming samples from both domestic and imported producers. In 20 cases, there were exceeded maximum admissible limits of nitrate content, and in the other three cases it was exceeded admissible limit of pesticide residues. As a result, the authorities took steps to prevent non – compliant products from being placed on the market.

(Reporter N. Sandu, editor A. Raileanu)