Curbs on pesticide-ridden products from T.N.
The State government will take stringent measures to regulate the marketing of fruits and vegetables from neighbouring States, including Tamil Nadu, as it has become abundantly clear that these contain very high levels of pesticide residues, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has said.
The Minister has directed a high-level committee, chaired by Commissioner of Food Safety T.V. Anupama, to chalk out the necessary measures that need to be taken to prevent the sale of fruits and vegetables with high pesticide residual content in the State markets.
He has also directed Ms. Anupama to write to the Agriculture Produces Commissioner of Tamil Nadu regarding the issue.
The decision to take stringent control measures has been taken following the report of an inquiry committee instituted by the State that many harmful pesticides and fungicides, some of which had been banned in Kerala, were being used in an unrestrained manner on vegetables and fruit crops during harvest and later in many farmlands in Tamil Nadu and that these were being marketed in Kerala
The inquiry committee, chaired by Joint Commissioner of Food Safety K. Anilkumar, had visited the agricultural lands in Nagercoil, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Kodaikanal, Ottanchatram, Coimbatore, and Mettupalayam and had held detailed discussions with the farmers and agricultural scientists, before filing the report.
The report was discussed in detail at a meeting chaired by Mr. Sivakumar here on Thursday.
The high-level committee on food safety will meet again on May 27 to decide further measures to be taken.
Fruits, vegetables contain high levels of pesticide
Probe team visits farms in Tamil Nadu
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