Pesticide Residues in Gyeonggi-do Local Food Stores 'Safe'... Non-compliance Rate 0.5%

Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The non-compliance rate for pesticide residues in local food direct stores in Gyeonggi Province was found to be around 0.5%.

The Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment announced on the 14th that pesticide residue tests conducted on 546 agricultural products collected from 63 local food direct stores in the province this year showed a non-compliance rate of 0.5%.

Local food refers to agricultural and marine products produced on a small scale within the region and sold locally without long-distance transportation or multi-level distribution.

Since the first local food direct store opened in Gimpo in 2012, there are currently 63 stores operating in the province.

The Institute of Health and Environment has conducted pesticide residue tests on direct stores annually since 2017, when local food direct stores became active. The non-compliance rates by year are ▲2017: 2.0% (7 cases) ▲2018: 2.3% (10 cases) ▲2019: 0.7% (3 cases) ▲2020: 1.1% (5 cases) ▲2021: 0.5% (3 cases).

The institute explained that the non-compliance rate has clearly decreased every year and is lower compared to the overall inspection results, including department stores and online stores during the same period (1.2% in 2020, 1.3% in 2021).

Oh Jo-gyo, director of the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment, stated, "This inspection result confirmed that the quality safety of agricultural products distributed through local food has significantly improved," and emphasized, "We will continue efforts to ensure that residents can consume local food with confidence in line with its quantitative growth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.