Irregularities of pesticides in vegetables from the Authority: a heated debate in the Knesset on food inspection

According to the health committee’s announcement, three Israeli marketers were caught with contaminated goods and were required to move them to the temporary warehouses. Despite this, they decided to market it to Israeli citizens. The representatives of the Ministry of Health refused to reveal the identity of the marketers at the hearing, and it even emerged that the Ministry had not summoned them to a hearing and had not taken any significant measures against them so far. In the discussion it also became clear that the holding warehouses are not warehouses owned by the state or under its direct supervision, but warehouses of the marketers themselves, so that in practice the marketer can remove goods from them even before the procedure is completed.

Pesticide residues are a complex health issue. Not every abnormality in a laboratory test means immediate poisoning, but repeated deviations above the standards indicate a failure in supervision and a cumulative health risk. Some of the pesticides, mainly from the organophosphorus family, may affect the nervous system, and high or prolonged exposure has been associated in the medical literature with neurological and developmental risks. Alongside this, the exact risk assessment depends on the type of substance, the concentration found, the duration of exposure, the amount consumed and the characteristics of the population, especially children, pregnant women and people with underlying diseases.