NZ: Banned pesticide still being found in cucumbers

Traces of the banned pesticide endosulfan have again been found in New Zealand cucumbers - and a food safety expert says the vegetables may be picking up the chemical from residues in the soil.
"Due to the trace levels detected it can be difficult to assign a cause for the residues," said Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) adviser Paul Dansted.
"In some instances growers have admitted using endosulfan after it was banned," he said.
"Growers or spray operators were unaware that the chemical was banned."
The chemical was not allowed in 62 countries and was banned in New Zealand as an environmental hazard by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma), in January last year.
It decided the level of harm to handlers from continued use of the chemical, which was "acutely toxic to humans at high levels", exceeded any benefits of its continued use.
But Dr Dansted - who noted that endosulfan was banned because of its environmental impact "and not because of concerns over residues in food" - said that in such cases any remaining endosulfan product on the property had been destroyed.
"However in other instances the endosulfan may have persisted in the soil from use before the substance was banned and the cucumbers have absorbed it," he said. "If this is the case then the grower is not at fault."
NZFSA would be discussing with Erma and the Department of Labour to why the banned chemical was present, Dr Dansted said.
The authority had visited most of the growers where samples containing endosulfan had been traced back.
But Green Party food safety spokeswoman on Sue Kedgley said one possibility was that contaminated cucumbers had been imported from Australia, where endosulfan is still used.
"Endosulfan was banned in New Zealand almost two years ago, and yet it is still turning up," Ms Kedgley said.