Presence of pesticides in the environment, transition into organic food, and implications for quality assurance along the European organic food chain – A review

The use of synthetic pesticides is not allowed in organic production, but traces of synthetic pesticides are regularly detected in organic food. To safeguard the integrity of organic production, organic certifiers are obliged to investigate the causes for pesticide residues on organic food, entailing high costs to the organic sector. Such residues can have various origins, including both fraud and unintentional contamination from the environment. Because the knowledge about contamination from environmental sources is scattered, this review provides an overview of pathways for unintentional and technically unavoidable contamination of organic food with synthetic pesticides in Europe. It shows that synthetic pesticides are widely present in all environmental compartments. They originate from applications in the region, in distant areas or from historical use. Transition into the food chain has been demonstrated by various studies. However, large uncertainties remain regarding the true pesticide contamination of the environment, their dynamics and the contamination risks for the food chain. Organic operators can take certain measures to reduce the risks of pesticide contamination of their products, but a certain extent of pesticide contamination is technically unavoidable. The present paper indicates that (i) a potential risk for pesticide residues exists on all organic crops and thus organic operators cannot meet a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach regarding pesticide residues at the moment. (ii) Applying a residue concentration threshold to distinguish between cases of fraud and unavoidable contamination for all pesticides is not adequate given the variability of contamination. More reliable answers can be obtained with a case-by-case investigation, where evidence for all possible origins of pesticide residues is collected and the likelihood of unavoidable contamination and fraud are estimated. Ultimately, for organic certification bodies and control authorities it will remain a challenge to determine whether a pesticide residue is due to neglect of production rules or technically unavoidable

DOUTfinder—identification of distant domain outliers using subsignificant sequence similarity

DOUTfinder is a web-based tool facilitating protein domain detection among related protein sequences in the twilight zone of sequence similarity. The sequence set required for this analysis can be provided by the user or will be collected using PSI-BLAST if a single sequence is given as an input. The obtained sequence family is analyzed for known Pfam and SMART domains, and the thereby identified subsignificant domain similarities are evaluated further. Domains with several subthreshold hits in the query set are ranked based on a sum-score function and likely homologous domains are suggested according to established cut-offs. By providing a post-filtering procedure for subsignificant domain hits DOUTfinder allows the detection of non-trivial domain relationships and can thereby lead to new insights into the function and evolution of distantly related sequence families. DOUTfinder is available at

Ein unvermeidbares Risiko

Wie steht es um die Pestizidbelastung der landwirtschaftlichen Böden in Europa? Und was bedeutet dies für die Biowertschöpfungskette? Mirjam Schleiffer und Bernhard Speiser vom Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau FiBL gehen der Sache auf den Grund

Welchen Einfluss hat die Pestizidbelastung der Umwelt auf die Biowertschöpfungskette?

Eine aktuelle wissenschaftliche Literaturstudie hat gezeigt, dass Pestizide in Böden, Wasser und Luft weit verbreitet sind und biologische Lebensmittel kontaminieren können. Diese Kontaminationspfade müssen bei der Untersuchung von Pestizidrückständen berücksichtigt werden

Leitfaden für die Probenahme und Rückstandsanalyse von Bio-Lebensmitteln

Das Vorgehen für die Probenahme zur Rückstandsanalytik ist kompliziert und manche Betriebe wünschen sich zugeschnittene Hilfestellung. Der Leitfaden bietet Hilfestellung zur Probenahme für Rückstandsanalytik auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen der Bio-Wertschöpfungskette

Was bedeutet die Pestizidbelastung der Umwelt für die Biowertschöpfungskette?

Dieser Beitrag fässt den aktuellen Wissensstand der Forschung über die Pestizidbelastung in der Umwelt zusammen und diskutiert, inwiefern die Pestizide aus der Umwelt in Bioprodukte übergehen können

Conservation Costs Drive Enrolment in Agglomeration Bonus Scheme

Agglomeration bonus schemes have become important policy tools when the environmental benefit hinges on spatial coordination of conservation sites. We here analyse how spatial factors affect the uptake of an agglomeration payment scheme in a Swiss mountain region, which seeks to establish a network of conservation areas to conserve favourable conditions for biodiversity. We use a combination of spatially explicit farm census (44,279 parcels) and survey data in a spatially lagged explanatory variable model. In addition, we also consider the collaborative process in establishing the eligibility of parcels for receiving the bonus payment. We find that parcels that are more distant from the farm as well as those at steeper slopes are more likely to enter the scheme. This implies that conservation costs are an important driver of the farmers' decisions. The results remain robust when controlling for a wide range of parcel, farm and farmers' characteristics. The analysis also showed that the collaborative process increased the enrolment of parcels cultivated by larger farmers managing their land more intensively. We conclude that the collaborative process increased the weight given to biodiversity from connecting conservation sites in the planning process of the agglomeration bonus scheme

Cross-border taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters in Switzerland, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, and Uganda

The thesis investigates the extent to which cross-border taking of evidence in civil and com-mercial matters in relation to Switzerland, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, and Uganda is allowed. Such evidence-taking is not only governed by the domestic law of the state seeking evidence abroad and that of the state where the relevant means of proof are located, but also by public international law, and more specifically by the concept of sovereignty. The ad-missibility of the cross-border taking of evidence under public international law depends on whether or not evidence-gathering in civil litigation is regarded as a judicial act, which violates sovereignty when performed on foreign territory, or as a purely private act. In the first case, the evidentiary material has to be obtained through channels of international judicial assistance. Such assistance can either be rendered based on the basis of an international treaty, or through courtoisie internationale. No international judicial assistance is necessary in cases of a so-called “transfer of foreign evidence”, provided no compulsion is applied which infringes the sovereignty of the foreign state. The thesis analyses the taking of evidence abroad based on the Hague Evidence Convention, and the Hague Procedure Convention. It further expounds how evidence located in Switzer-land, Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, and Uganda can be obtained for the benefit of civil proceed-ings pending abroad in the absence of any relevant international treaty. The thesis also exam-ines under what conditions a litigant in civil proceedings in the aforementioned countries may request evidence to be taken on foreign soil. The position of cross-border taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters in the said countries is assessed, and suggestions are made on how such status quo may be improved. The thesis makes an attempt to establish the basic prin-ciples for a convention on evidence-taking in civil and commercial matters between South Af-rica, Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, and Uganda. The development of such principles, however, is only possible once the similarities and differences in the procedure for the taking of evidence and the means of proof in the relevant laws of the aforesaid countries have been identified.Public, Constitutional, and InternationalLL. D

Assessing public organic food procurement: the case of Zurich (CH)

Organic food is increasingly promoted among authorities and governments to tackle global sustainability challenges and support an agri-ecological transition. An important policy instrument in this endeavour is the purchase of food or food services by public institutions, the so-called public food procurement (PFP). While PFP policies often promote organic food, few studies quantify the actual share of organic products in PFP systems. This study applies an adapted city food flow analysis to evaluate the organic share of 12 product groups in public catering, using Zurich as a case study. Based on a typology of procurement channels, we show that Zurich’s PFP system is highly centralised with internal coordinated procurement (INT–coord) and external coordinated procurement (EX–coord) providing 70% and 25% of total annual meals respectively. As Zurich procures 11% (INT–coord) and 9% (EX–coord) of organic produce, the city has considerable potential to increase organic PFP. Leverage points to this aim include internal product-specific thresholds, supply development and developments in digital procurement. This study provides a methodology to conceptualise municipal PFP systems and measure city-wide levels of organic PFP. The insights from Zurich offer a blueprint for PFP systems in other municipalities and reveal potential challenges when defining and monitoring organic PFP policies based on total purchases

Pestizidrückstände auf Biolebensmitteln – Untersuchungen in der Schweiz und Europa

Because the use of synthetic pesticides is not allowed in organic production, many consumers expect that organic food does not contain residues of synthetic pesticides. However, organic food is not always completely free of such residues due to various contamination pathways. This study compares pesticide residues in organic and conventional food. It is based on quality monitoring data of fresh produce on the Swiss market from 2011 ‐ 2016 and from 2014 – 2018, and on two studies for the European market by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The results show that pesticide residues are found far less frequently in organic than in conventional food. Pesticide residues were found in 9 % of the organic food for Switzerland, and in 6 % for Europe. By contrast, 60 % (Switzerland) and 44 % (Europe) of conventional samples contained pesticide residues. Not only the frequency but also the levels of pesticide residues are lower in organic food. In Switzerland, the pesticide load on organic food was on average 35 times lower compared to conventional food. ‘Multiple residues’ (more than one pesticide found in one food item) occurred in less than 1% of the organic samples in Switzerland, whereas about 50 % of conventional leaf salad and 45 % of conventional pome fruit contained multiple residues. Among the residue cases on organic samples, substances allowed in organic farming are responsible for 30 % of residue cases, while organochlorine pesticides (heritage of past use) and bromide (predominantly of natural occurrence) account for 5 % and 10 % of the cases. The remaining 55 % of residue cases on organic food are due to pesticides used in conventional agriculture. These pesticides may reach organic food via the environment (e.g. spray drift), cross contamination during processing and storage, packaging materials, detergents or unauthorised application. This study shows that organic food on the Swiss market is not completely free of pesticide residues, but contains residues more rarely and in smaller quantities than conventional food. The organic sector makes great efforts to minimize pesticide contamination. Nevertheless, further reductions require the collaboration of all actors in the food chain, including non‐organic operators