In the recent months, the Kerala government had acted tough against the high level of pesticide residues in vegetables.
Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), which functions to protect the interest of pesticide manufacturers and users, has moved the high court against the Kerala government drive to restrict the supply of vegetables with pesticide residues above the permissible level from Tamil Nadu.
In a writ filed in the high court on Monday, the CCFI has sought that directions be issued to the Chief Secretary to strictly function under the contours of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. CCFI wanted State Food Safety Commissioner T V Anupama withdraw her statements on pesticide content in vegetables transported from Tamil Nadu to Kerala.
It said the commissioner made observations without any scientific credibility about pesticide usage and she was harassing farmers, in violation of the section 18 (3) of the food safety and standards act.
The federation alleged that the Kerala Food Safety Commissioner has been causing and spreading unwarranted panic and paranoia about vegetables from Tamil Nadu.
It sought the high court to direct the Kerala food safety commissioner to make public the analytical results of 700 samples claimed to have been taken by her directly from the farmers in Tamil Nadu.
In the recent months, the Kerala government had acted tough against the high level of pesticide residues in vegetables. The food safety commissioner had sent her teams to farms in Tamil Nadu, a major supplier of vegetables to Kerala, to realize the gravity of issue after lab tests found that supply from Tamil Nadu contained pesticides above permissible level.
Subsequently, Kerala had issued guidelines to truckers to reveal the markets from where they sourced the produce. In the recent months, sale of vegetables and fruits from other states have come down due to the reports about pesticide residue.
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