Blanket ban on certain pesticides not a solution, food safety expert tells MPs

CAPE TOWN - An expert on food safety has told Parliament that a blanket ban on certain pesticides is not the solution.

The agriculture committee on Tuesday received the briefing on the food safety implications of the contamination in some spaza shops by an agricultural pesticide.

This follows several deaths in mainly two provinces last year after victims, mostly children, ate contaminated food items bought from spaza shops.

The agriculture committee held its first meeting on Tuesday and continued with discussions around food safety.

Professor Lise Korsten, a plant scientist and food safety expert from the University of Pretoria, told the committee that a lot of pesticides were not registered and also not stored correctly by informal farmers and traders.

READ: Department of Agriculture set to inspect SA's 5 factories producing Terbufos

She listed pesticides, like Terbufos, as responsible for some cases in Gauteng.

"When you have a pesticide on your farm, you can’t store it where you store your seeds or your food."

But this is not reason enough to ban certain pesticides which are crucial in food security.

"I want to caution the decision around having a blanket approach of just banning pesticides without thinking of the food security impact it will have."

The committee is expected to continue discussions next week when it meets with the department and the minister.