As I write this article today, the world commemorates the International Day of Food Safety.

Too often are we consumed by the idea of enough food and less about the safety of this food.

This day helps remind us to not only produce food but food that is healthy and free of risky substances which might endanger human health.

This isn’t a cause that should be driven by farmers or lobbyists but by the consumer community.

Most of us consumers care more about quantity of food per shilling than quality.

We walk through a supermarket chain interested only in getting the best bargain as opposed to the best quality.

However, some consumer communities are turning the tables on this status quo.

I’m informed of consumers in Nyeri County, Kenya who insist on knowing the practices used to grow crops before buying them.

This habit needs to spread and influence us all.

We must not only ask about where our food is from but how it’s cultivated.

Are pesticides used?

If so, are they sanctioned?

If sanctioned are they safe?

In other words, our drive should not lose focus on the goal which is to ensure that the food we buy is safe.

Food safety has many angles to it:

hygiene practices,

food handling,

pesticides…what have you.

But for the sake of this write up, we shall consider pesticides and why their residue levels matter in the food we eat.

PESTICIDES

Pesticides are a unique range of chemicals because they are manufactured to destroy life…

lives of risky pests.

They help us as farmers to reduce the damage done on our crops.

But at what cost?

A unique class of pesticides known to resist degradation over time have adversely been categorized as persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

Though their use is suppressed, their residues linger long after their ban in many nations.

Such include lindane, aldrin, dieldrin among others.

Such pesticides have left a lasting effect on insect life around us.

Bees have been affected in adverse ways.

But of greater concern is a class of pesticides which have gained prominence due to their lethality on pests.

Organophosphate pesticides are currently the most widely used because of their effectiveness.

But this effectiveness keeps on waning after every season of application due to emergence of resistant pests.

This means that farmers must use more potent pesticides than the ones they used before season after season.

Not only will this affect their soils and environment but quality of their produce as well.

MAXIMUM RESIDUE LEVELS

Not only are organophosphate pesticides like chlorpyrifos indiscriminately lethal, long term exposure (even at minute levels) might lead to reproductive health problems.

Which is why the maximum residue levels (maximum acceptable levels of pesticide residue in harvested produce) is an issue of concern with regard to food safety.

A joint research by the Kenya Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN) and Eco-Trac shows a concerning trend of pesticide residue levels in our food.

Tomatoes, maize and cabbages sourced from several markets in Kenyans counties showed significant residue levels of highly hazardous pesticides (HHP) such as chlorpyrifos.

The outlook of the situation in the whole nation could give a a grim picture.

BOTTOM LINE

Pesticides are useful in guaranteeing good farm yields.

If they could be used within strict guidelines, then we might be at a safer place.

But the truth is that pesticide misuse is more of a norm than an exception.

Because of this, our health is endangered, communities are at risk.

Though food is in plenty, much of it might be too risky for us to consume over the long haul.

Perhaps there is a case organic farming…

Perhaps there is a case for IPM strategies that work…

Perhaps there is a case for sustainable agriculture.

Either way, for us to safeguard generations to come, the business-as-usual attitude must be replaced by a business-unusual one.

Food safety must precede food security.

#methinks

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