RESEARCH has found a cocktail of chemical residues exceeding food safety limits in one of our favourite Summer fruits, the strawberry.

In light of these findings, Bernadette Connolly, coordinator of The Environmental Forum, which has its offices in Enniskeane, described current food safety standards as 'a betrayal of citizens, especially the vulnerable such as young children who can consume these fruits in large quantities.'

Bernadette Connolly said: 'It is a basic assumption by consumers that the food available in our shops is safe, instead what we are finding is a cocktail of chemical residues that exceed safe food standard limits.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe and partner NGOs, revealed, in a recent report, that strawberries produced in the EU are significantly contaminated with a cocktail of highly toxic pesticides.

Here in Ireland, Bernadette said strawberries are grown widely across the country, but particularly in the South East. 'Because only a limited sample were tested for the report we are not giving out the names of the producers. But we will be in touch with them to make them aware of what is in their strawberries,' she said.

The Environmental Forum coordinator said it is deeply regrettable that regulations on the use of pesticides is 'inadequate and the testing of the food on our shelves insufficient to protect public health.'

On a more positive note, the coordinator said samples from France and the Netherlands contained very few pesticides.

In light of these findings, Bernadette Connolly said current deregulation proposals would further weaken the regulation of pesticides at EU Commission and EU Council level, and lessen protection for consumers.'

Today, the coordinator said Irish strawberries are considered one of the most contaminated fruits according to the recent European-wide survey of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

She said PFAS is a massive family of thousands of synthetic chemicals and endocrine-disrupting pesticides and the EU strawberries that were tested shows that PFAS pesticides were detected in 58% of the samples.

The most frequently identified pesticides are fludioxonil and cyprodinil, two endocrine disruptors that Bernadette Connolly maintains 'should have been banned under EU law.'

In addition, she said 56% of the identified pesticides are part of the group of the 'more hazardous pesticides' that should have been phased out since 2011.

'These results confirm that a better implementation of the pesticide legislation is needed, not a loosening of the rules, as currently discussed in the EU under the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus proposal,' she concluded.