Pesticide residues in food and drinking water from the consumerʼs perspective [09.02.22]
Modern agriculture faces two big challenges: an increased global demand for food and the need to grow crops more sustainably. Overexploitation of land and the environmental pollution it causes has created a climate for change. Mitigating the effects of global warming and protecting biodiversity are crucial. The 'Farm to Fork Strategy' is at the heart of the European Union Green Deal and shall help creating healthier and more sustainable food systems. One of its key targets is to reduce by 2030 the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50%. Hohenheim scientists work on natural pesticide alternatives, model future scenarios and - together with colleagues from Göttingen - in a recent article also investigated consumer's perception on the topic.
Picture Source & Credit: Pixabay, Zefe WU
Original Article
Sina Nitzko (a), EnnoBahrs (b), AchimSpillera (a) (2022) Pesticide residues in food and drinking water from the consumerʼs perspective: The relevance of maximum residue levels and product-specific differences. Sustainable Production and Consumption. Volume 30, Pages 787 - 798. March 2022. DOI 10.1016/j.spc.2022.01.016
Affiliations:
a) University of Goettingen, Department for Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, Göttingen, 37073, Germany
b) University of Hohenheim, Institute of Farm Management (410b), Schwerzstr. 44, Stuttgart, 70599, Germany
Abstract
One disadvantage of pesticide use in agriculture are the residues that remain in food and drinking water. In addition to analyzing consumer intolerance to pesticide residues for various food groups (fruit/vegetables, cereals/cereal products, and potatoes) according to the degree of product processing, the present study investigates consumer knowledge and attitudes regarding the EU's regulations on maximum residue levels (comparatively) for both food and drinking water. A survey of 1,195 German consumers was conducted by means of an online questionnaire. Different statistical analysis methods were used for the data analysis. The results show that EU regulations on maximum residue levels were known to 62.7% of respondents regarding food, and to 60.9% of the respondents regarding drinking water. Both pesticide residues in general and those exceeding the maximum residue levels were considered rather problematic. There was an ambivalent attitude towards the maximum residue levels. The attitudinal differences between food and drinking water were small to marginal. The analyses of pesticide residue intolerance with respect to degree of food processing showed that the highest intolerance was found with unprocessed/minimally processed products, followed by food products with higher processing degrees. Overall, these findings underline the consumer-sided general importance of the residue issue and argue for more sustainable agricultural systems characterized by pesticide use reduction or avoidance.
© 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers
 | Co-Autor Prof. Dr. Enno Bahrs Department of Agricultural Business Management Email: bahrs@ uni-hohenheim.de
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