A mixture of five different pesticides was indentified in samples of Slovak and Austrian Golden Delicious apples on sale in two Slovak retail chains, according to the results of testing carried out by Greenpeace Slovakia which was published Wednesday. The level of pesticides contained in the apples didn't exceed the norm, however, Greenpeace wanted to point to the problem of 'pesticide cocktails'. None of the monitored retail supermarket chains offered Slovak bio apples. Greenpeace thus called on Slovakia to provide greater financial and political support for ecological production of bio-foodstuffs in Slovakia. Samples from four stores were collected. An independent laboratory in Germany carried out the tests. Slovak and Austrian apples, which fared the worst, contained a cocktail of five kinds of pesticides - chlorpyriphos, Tetrahydrophthalimide, fludioxonil, trifloxystrobin and spirodiclofen. "A consumer can't find out the level of residual pesticides that are still contained in the apples. Retail chains should embrace measures to see these levels decrease and work toward the gradual elimination of pesticides from fruits and vegetables", stated campaign coordinator 'Food for Life' Katarína Nikodemová. The apple testing is part of a European campaign involving 126 apples from 23 different retail chains in 11 countries. Of the 126 apples, 109 were cultivated conventionally and 17 were bio apples, or free of pesticides. In total, 39 various residues of pesticides have been discovered. Only 17 percent of conventionally cultivated apples did not show any pesticidal residue at all, while the remaining 83 percent did contain residues, of which 60 percent contained two or more kinds of pesticides. "Many of the pesticides are only hard to decompose and might be also bio accumulative. That means that once they get into the nature, they might attach to different living organisms in the food chain. Thus they pose a great threat for the whole ecosystem", emphasised Nikodemová. Based on Greenpeace Slovakia's data from 2014, Slovakia cultivated almost 48,500 tonnes of conventional apples in an area of 3,319 hectares. The yield of bio apples for the same year was 5,209 tonnes.

Gavin Shoebridge, Photo: TASR