Grasp the pesticides nettle before it
stings you
07 November 2006 17:07
Mike Knowles
Professor David Hughes upstaged no less a figure than Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Eurofruit’s Southern Hemisphere Congress 2006 in Cape Town in October (see our review on p26-29), capturing the imagination of assembled delegates with a refreshing mixture of insight and humour that was not only engaging but also extremely useful to the more than 450 producers, suppliers, marketers, distributors and retailers in the audience.
David also uttered one of the most memorable things I’ve heard at an industry conference in recent years. Referring to the various NGOs currently pushing for the eradication of pesticides in the fruit and vegetable business, and to the presentation made earlier that day on corporate social responsibility by Gijs Kuneman of Dutch environmental body Stichting en Milieu, he paraphrased former US president Lyndon B Johnson’s old maxim: “It’s probably better to have these guys inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
The trouble is, people in this industry don’t take too kindly to those causing a mess from outside the fresh produce pavilion, which is exactly what Greenpeace did last year with its ‘Stoppt Gift im Essen’ (‘Stop Poisons in Food' ) campaign in Germany. But as Gijs Kuneman pointed out, at this very moment EU regulations are being altered to further tighten the maximum residue levels (MRLs) permitted on fresh fruits and vegetables, so there is a growing need for suppliers to grasp the pesticides nettle before it stings them.
Of course, many companies are already doing a great deal to eliminate the risks of pesticides and, as our report from the EurepGAP annual conference in Prague on p76-77 suggests, more pressure is being brought to bear on certification bodies to harmonise the requirements relating to MRLs and other food safety standards.
As the range and origin of products entering the European fresh produce market continues to expand, it is imperative that the standards required of the suppliers involved are as unambiguous as they can possibly be. Meanwhile, corporate social responsibility is informing consumer choice more and more, and as a result it is becoming more of a pressing concern for big business. Long may this continue.
Professor David Hughes upstaged no less a figure than Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Eurofruit’s Southern Hemisphere Congress 2006 in Cape Town in October (see our review on p26-29), capturing the imagination of assembled delegates with a refreshing mixture of insight and humour that was not only engaging but also extremely useful to the more than 450 producers, suppliers, marketers, distributors and retailers in the audience.
David also uttered one of the most memorable things I’ve heard at an industry conference in recent years. Referring to the various NGOs currently pushing for the eradication of pesticides in the fruit and vegetable business, and to the presentation made earlier that day on corporate social responsibility by Gijs Kuneman of Dutch environmental body Stichting en Milieu, he paraphrased former US president Lyndon B Johnson’s old maxim: “It’s probably better to have these guys inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
The trouble is, people in this industry don’t take too kindly to those causing a mess from outside the fresh produce pavilion, which is exactly what Greenpeace did last year with its ‘Stoppt Gift im Essen’ (‘Stop Poisons in Food' ) campaign in Germany. But as Gijs Kuneman pointed out, at this very moment EU regulations are being altered to further tighten the maximum residue levels (MRLs) permitted on fresh fruits and vegetables, so there is a growing need for suppliers to grasp the pesticides nettle before it stings them.
Of course, many companies are already doing a great deal to eliminate the risks of pesticides and, as our report from the EurepGAP annual conference in Prague on p76-77 suggests, more pressure is being brought to bear on certification bodies to harmonise the requirements relating to MRLs and other food safety standards.
As the range and origin of products entering the European fresh produce market continues to expand, it is imperative that the standards required of the suppliers involved are as unambiguous as they can possibly be. Meanwhile, corporate social responsibility is informing consumer choice more and more, and as a result it is becoming more of a pressing concern for big business. Long may this continue.
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