Pesticide probe after Belgian toxic carrots go missing

21 October 2005

BRUSSELS – Belgium’s food safety agency has launched an investigation after 330 tonnes of toxic carrots were exported to France and the Netherlands.

The radio and TV station RTBF reported on Friday that the carrots were among a batch of vegetables judged unfit for human consumption, but now cannot be traced.

It is understood that a pesticide producer tested samples of vegetables and found they contained too high a quantity of his product. He immediately informed farmers and the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain.

As a result, the carrots were declared unsafe to eat and their sale was banned.

However, it seems that some farmers flouted the ban and sold their stock illegally abroad.

The food agency is now taking steps to discover whether the toxicity of the carrots was due to a fault in the production of the pesticide or to its incorrect use by the farmers.

Until the investigation is completed, farmers who have used the pesticide have been banned from harvesting crops which they have used it on.

Subject: Belgian news