Have the article read by OpenAI (Beta). Please note that AI translations may take some time to process.Brussels (dpa) – The European Union is to step up controls to better detect imported food products containing particularly harmful pesticides banned in the bloc.
“If these pesticides are not allowed in the EU for reasons related to health protection in Europe, they should not be found as residues in our food,” EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi told journalists on Tuesday.
This is to protect consumers in the EU from the substances but also to shield European farmers from a competitive disadvantage, Várhelyi said.
Várhelyi stressed that the move is not linked to the EU’s deal with the Latin American trade block Mercosur of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The announcement however comes as efforts are intensifying to start ratifying the free trade deal, which has been negotiated for over two decades, and ahead of a farmers’ protest planned in Brussels next week.
In addition to updating EU rules on traces of pesticides in imported food products, the European Commission aims to increase the number of audits carried out in non-European countries as well as at European border crossing points. (9 December)
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