Most fruit samples randomly tested by the Thai Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-Pan) contained hazardous residues that exceeded the safety standard, particularly jujubes and oranges.
Thai-PAN coordinator Prokchol Ousap said on Friday that the network collected 85 samples of apples, dragon fruit, guava, jujubes and oranges, both imported and domestically grown, from supermarkets and fresh markets across 12 provinces, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Rayong from Nov 27 to Dec 11.
She said the fruits underwent multi-residue testing for 419 chemicals at BVAQ Laboratory in Thailand. The analysis revealed pesticide residues exceeding the safety standard in all fruit types tested, she said.
Additionally, domestically grown fruits were found to contain chlorpyrifos, a hazardous agricultural chemical that Thailand banned as a Type 4 toxic substance, prohibiting its production, import, export and possession since June 1, 2020, she said.
The findings showed that all 15 jujube samples had hazardous residues that exceeded the safety standard, with six samples containing chlorpyrifos at high levels.
For the oranges, three out of the 17 samples had residues within safe limits, while 14 exceeded the safety standard.
Notably, chlorpyrifos was detected in four samples, including two imported mandarins from China and two domestically grown from Phichit and Chiang Rai.
For apples, the results found that only four samples did not have any pesticide residues while 13 had residues but only one exceeded the standard values. For guava, only one sample was residue-free, while six were within safe limits, and 10 had residues that exceeded the standard.
The dragon fruit test showed that two samples did not have chemical residue while 15 samples had toxic residues, of which nine had residues exceeding the standard value, including one sample that was marked as an organic product with a PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) certificate.
Thai-PAN will forward the results to the relevant government authorities to examine the organic certification standard, Ms Prokchol said.
Thai-PAN in October conducted similar tests on Shine Muscat grapes sold in Thailand, with similar results showing unsafe residue levels.
