All agricultural products distributed in Gyeonggi Province that have received the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification have been found to be completely safe from pesticide residues.
The Gyeonggi Institute of Health and Environment announced on May 28 that it conducted pesticide residue safety tests on 202 GAP-certified agricultural products distributed between January and May of this year, and all of them were found to be “compliant.”
The GAP certification system is designed to systematically manage hazardous factors such as pesticides throughout the entire process, from production and harvest to storage and distribution. In particular, it manages even the use of synthetic organic pesticides in accordance with the standards set by the Pesticide Control Act and the Food Sanitation Act.
To increase consumer trust in the GAP system and to promote the production and consumption of safe agricultural products, the provincial institute collected a total of 202 samples across 36 GAP-certified product categories sold at both online and offline distribution channels, and conducted detailed tests for 475 types of pesticide residues.
As a result of the tests, no pesticide residues were detected in 91 samples across 12 categories, including blueberries, Aralia shoots, chives, wrap cabbage, and enoki mushrooms. In the remaining 111 samples across 24 categories, all detected pesticide residues were confirmed to be within the national Maximum Residue Limits (MRL).
Moon Sugyeong, Director of the Agricultural and Marine Products Testing Division at the provincial institute, stated, “Although the number of GAP-certified products, farms, and cultivation areas has been steadily increasing since the implementation of the GAP certification system, consumer awareness remains low. We will continue to manage the safety of distributed agricultural products so that GAP-certified produce can be established as safe food that the public can consume with confidence.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
