Crop Protection China news

As fipronil was traced on vegetables in a vegetable market in Huizhou City in early June 2012, the words of highly toxic pesticide was again brought back into the vision of the public. An official from the MOA expressed on 11 June, 2012 that there is no need to worry about the pesticide residue in China because the proportion of high toxic pesticides among all the pesticides has decreased to 2% from 30%. However, many people in the public do not believe it.

In recent years, more and more food safety issues have emerged in China, especially issues about the residue of highly toxic pesticides. The difference between the national pesticide residue standards and international pesticide residue standards has caused not only food safety dispute in domestic but also international trade conflicts of domestic agricultural produces. How to balance the interests among the yield increase of agricultural produces, food safety and international trade barriers has become one of the most important tasks for the Chinese government, and adjusting national pesticide residue standards may be an effective way.