Malta's fruit and veg tops EU pesticide tests

Maltese fruit and veg are the most likely to contain illegal levels of pesticides in all of Europe, a new report has found. The European Food Safety Authority has confirmed that locally grown produce is more than twice as likely to exceed the acceptable pesticide levels as the EU average. More than five per cent of the Maltese produce tested by the authorities in 2015 was over the limit for chemicals sprayed by farmers. The EU average was less than two per cent. The local situation in 2014 was actually twice as bad, the report adds.  READ: Are there any pesticides on your plate? Pesticide use in the local agriculture industry has been thrust into the national spotlight since a series of Times of Malta reports exposed how local produce had been found to contain excessive pesticide residues. The latest figures for 2016, reported earlier this month, have shown that the situation has worsened since the 2015 data was collected in Brussels. Practically one in five locally grown greens last year contained more chemical residues than it should have, according to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority. An exact breakdown of what chemicals are being sprayed and what levels...