{"id":287549,"date":"2023-09-19T12:58:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T12:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belux.edmo.eu\/?p=287549"},"modified":"2023-09-19T15:26:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T15:26:47","slug":"rainforest-alliances-kikkerlogo-geeft-niet-aan-dat-een-voedingsproduct-atrazine-bevat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belux.edmo.eu\/nl\/rainforest-alliances-kikkerlogo-geeft-niet-aan-dat-een-voedingsproduct-atrazine-bevat\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainforest Alliance\u2019s kikkerlogo geeft niet aan dat een voedingsproduct atrazine bevat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The green frog logo of the international NGO Rainforest Alliance can be found on several food products that certify that a product is obtained from crops that meet certain environmental, social and economic standards. <\/span>Since early September 2023, users have been sharing posts in Dutch on social media falsely claiming that the logo is proof that the products contain a dangerous herbicide, atrazine. <\/span>However, the NGO’s standards explicitly prohibit the use of atrazine. <\/span>This pesticide has been banned in the EU for almost 20 years and imported foods are subject to concentration limits controlled by each Member State.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThese products are sprayed with ATRAZINE, a herbicide. It has been scientifically proven that the herbicide ASTRAZINE femaleizes male frogs by reducing their testosterone, making them infertile,\u201d reads one of the misleading Dutch posts on <\/span><\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/span><\/a> . <\/span>The post, which has been shared more than 150 times, refers to products bearing the logo of the NGO Rainforest Alliance.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The misleading information, which AFP <\/span><\/span>had already checked in other languages<\/span><\/span><\/a> , recently surfaced in several messages in Dutch ( <\/span><\/span>here<\/span><\/span><\/a> , <\/span><\/span>here<\/span><\/span><\/a> and <\/span><\/span>here<\/span><\/span><\/a> ). <\/span>The posts share an image with the logos of various brands and the Rainforest Alliance logo, which is crossed out in red.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In April, AFP reviewed other reports making <\/span><\/span>false claims about the NGO<\/span><\/span><\/a> .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Screenshot of one of the misleading messages, captured on September 13, 2023<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

What does the green frog logo stand for?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

The green frog logo that is the subject of the false messages is a seal used by the Rainforest Alliance. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>The organization <\/span><\/span>is described on its website<\/span><\/span><\/a> as “an international non-profit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture and forests to make responsible business the new normal.”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Screenshot from the Rainforest Alliance website, captured on April 18, 2023.<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe Rainforest Alliance green frog seal on packaging means the product contains a certified ingredient \u2013 \u200b\u200bsuch as coffee, tea, cocoa or bananas \u2013 that has been produced using methods that support the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic and environmental,\u201d a spokesperson for the Rainforest Alliance told AFP in an email dated April 4, 2023. The organization has used the red-eyed tree frog for more than 30 years, “because this bright-eyed amphibian is common in the neotropics, where our founders first settled committed to the protection of tropical rainforests,” the spokesperson added.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The certification includes <\/span><\/span>several standards<\/span><\/span><\/a> related to the conservation and protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, human rights and the welfare of agricultural workers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Atrazine banned for use by Rainforest Alliance and the EU<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The messages falsely claim that the frog logo means the foods have been sprayed with atrazine (which is misspelled in some messages), but the use of the herbicide has been banned by the NGO. <\/span>It has also been banned by the European Union since 2004.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As explained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), atrazine is \u201cused to selectively control annual grasses and broadleaf weeds before they become established,\u201d with \u201cthe highest use on field corn, sweet corn, sorghum, and sugarcane,\u201d but also <\/span>on <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/a> wheat, macadamia nuts and guava, as well as non-agricultural uses such as nursery\/ornaments and turf\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Atrazine is banned under the Rainforest Alliance certification standard, which means that farms following our standard are not allowed to use it on certified crops,” a spokesperson for the NGO told AFP.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Atrazine is listed as a banned pesticide in the <\/span>NGO’s <\/span><\/span>Pesticide Management Guidelines<\/span><\/span><\/a> ( archived <\/span><\/span>here ).<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Even if Rainforest Alliance has a procedure that allows exceptional pesticide uses, atrazine does not appear in this list of permitted exceptions, which was last <\/span><\/span>published in July 2023<\/span><\/span><\/a> ( <\/span>archived\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>here ).<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never granted an exception to the use of atrazine under the ‘exceptional use procedure’,\u201d a Rainforest Alliance spokesperson told AFP in another email dated April 18, 2023.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRainforest Alliance certification is carried out by third-party <\/span><\/span>certification bodies<\/span><\/span><\/a> authorized to conduct audits against our sustainable agriculture standard. More information about the rules for certification bodies can be found <\/span><\/span>here<\/span><\/span><\/a> ,\u201d the NGO spokesperson explained.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Although atrazine is <\/span><\/span>approved<\/span><\/span><\/a> in the US, it was <\/span><\/span>banned<\/span><\/span><\/a> in the European Union by the European Commission in 2004 <\/span><\/span>due to water pollution<\/span><\/span><\/a> . <\/span>But, as explained in <\/span><\/span>this article<\/span><\/span><\/a> from the European Environment Agency, “despite restrictions on atrazine since 2007, it is still found in groundwater because it is very persistent.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How does the EU monitor the ban?<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cConcentration limits apply to imported products entering the EU,\u201d said <\/span><\/span>Dr. <\/span>Stoilko Apostolov<\/span><\/span><\/a> , chairman of “Bioselena” (a Bulgarian foundation promoting organic farming) on <\/span><\/span>\u200b\u200bApril 3, 2023 against AFP<\/span><\/span><\/a> . <\/span>These are the so-called Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs), <\/span><\/span>defined<\/span><\/span><\/a> by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) as “the highest levels of pesticide residues legally permitted in or on food or feed, based on Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and the lowest exposure necessary to protect vulnerable consumers”.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“If atrazine is allowed for use in America, then all companies importing products in the production of which a herbicide containing atrazine has been used will have to comply with the EU MRLs,” Dr Apostolov told AFP.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Regulation (EC) No 396\/2005<\/span><\/span><\/a> sets maximum levels for pesticide residues in or on food and feed of plant and animal origin. <\/span>Atrazine has the status of “unapproved substance,” an EFSA spokesperson told AFP in an email dated April 17, 2023. “When the use of pesticides is not authorized at Community level, MRLs should be set at an appropriately low level established in order to protect consumers from the ingestion of unauthorized or excessive quantities of pesticide residues,” reads recital 21 of that regulation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The exact values \u200b\u200bof the MLRs for atrazine in or on certain products are regulated in another regulation: regulation No. 2016\/440, the EFSA spokesperson also told AFP. <\/span><\/span>This regulation<\/span><\/span><\/a> lists several foods and the MLRs of atrazine for each of them. <\/span>A full list of MLRs of atrazine in foods is <\/span>published <\/span><\/span>here . <\/span><\/span><\/a>For most products (grains, fruit or vegetables) the limit is set at 0.05 mg\/kg. <\/span>In addition, a limit of 0.1 mg\/kg has been set for tea, coffee beans and spices.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Screenshot of the EU pesticide database. <\/span>Regarding MRLs of atrazine. <\/span>Captured on April 19, 2023<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In 2015, EFSA published a <\/span><\/span>reasoned opinion<\/span><\/span><\/a> on setting a new maximum residue level for atrazine in cereals, and based on its conclusion, the MLRs for atrazine were set at 0.05 mg\/kg. <\/span>According to this opinion, 0.05 mg\/kg corresponds to the smallest amount of atrazine that can be determined by the control procedure available in the EU.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“This makes it very difficult for third country producers to use atrazine on products that will be imported into the EU. If you compare it with another herbicide, such as <\/span><\/span>glyphosate<\/span><\/span><\/a> for example, you will see that the maximum residue limits for some products are much higher have been established to allow farmers (from the EU and third countries) to use the substance,” Salom\u00e9 Roynel, policy and campaigns officer for pesticide risk assessment at the <\/span><\/span>Pesticides Action Network,<\/span><\/span><\/a> told AFP in an email dated April 20, 2023.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure that food placed on the market complies with the MRLs, EU Member States (plus Norway and Iceland) take samples of various foods every year, which they test for pesticide residues,\u201d the EFSA spokesperson explained further out to AFP. <\/span>He added that “the samples include both foods produced within the EU and foods imported from third countries”. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“EFSA’s latest annual report on pesticide residues in food covered more than 88,000 food samples collected in the European Union in 2020. The level of atrazine was found above the MRL in 1 sample,” the EFSA spokesperson told AFP.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n