Big Smog: Beijing's vegetables test positive for a 'cocktail of pesticides'

[Image credit to WantChinaTimes]

Big Smog is a blog that gives you local Beijing news that might just affect your life..

Vegetables supplied to Beijing have a considerable chance of being “contaminated with a cocktail of pesticide residues”, says a recent Greenpeace report.

The report shows the findings of a study conducted over 2014 in which 133 vegetable samples supplied to and sold in the top-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou were surveyed by an independent laboratory for their pesticidal chemical content. 54 samples came from suppliers and 79 from city wholesale markets. The results showed that 40 percent of Beijing’s test samples were found to contain more than 5 different kinds of pesticide. Guangzhou came runner up with 34 percent and Shanghai lagged far behind with the safest vegetable supply.

The study found that around 70 percent of Beijing's veg came from outside the city, mainly from Zhangbei in Hebei province and Shougang in Shandong province where low regulation has meant farmers have developed a heavy reliance on chemicals. Conversely, Shanghai receives most of its supply from within its municipality where the local government is able to implement its regulatory policies and promote "ecological agriculture" for safer food.

Beijing and Guangzhou also failed miserably when Greenpeace tested their food traceability systems, with Shanghai shaming them once again. 100 percent of Shanghai's market-sold veg can be traced back to its source while Beijing has admitted it doesn't even have a system in place yet: "The establishment of a traceability system for Beijing is still in the exploratory phase," said one spokesperson.

Although Beijing is implementing the national 'Promotion of Green Technology' policy that encourages non-chemical pest control, it is slow going. The city as yet has no traceability system, no farming records for smallhold farms (Shanghai pays smallholders a subsidy to maintain their own records) and only follows the national list of banned pesticides (Shanghai has its own list and awards subsidies to those who use non-chemical physical and biological pest control).

Though it may take some pride-swallowing and face-losing in the capital, the authorities could do worse than to follow Shanghai's example.