Press Release: Pesticides: Food in the EU is now safer thanks to more controls and fewer and less harmful residues

Food in the European Union has become even safer over the past year thanks, in part, to the withdrawal from the market of harmful pesticides and the strengthening of the Union's border control activity. As of January 2010, the EU has in essence established a common control border as regards certain fruits and vegetables. For these imported products a new control regime has been introduced, which provides that consignments are checked at the EU border before their entry into the Union. To witness how the system works in practice, EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli, visited the Port of Antwerp and Mechelse Veilingen, a farm cooperative and vegetable auction close to Mechelen, on 24 June 2010.