Greenpeace has issued a warning that a typical English roast dinner is 'drenched' in pesticides, with a cocktail of more than 100 pesticides potentially used on seven categories of vegetables and soft fruit. The report highlights that seven of these pesticides are banned in the European Union.
Pesticides Found in Sunday Roast Ingredients
The Greenpeace report, based on data from the Fera pesticide usage survey for 2024, found that 102 different pesticides were used on seven vegetable and soft fruit categories. These include roast potatoes, carrots, peas, and other staples of the traditional Sunday roast. Among the pesticides detected are benthiavalicarb, metribuzin, spirotetramat, S-metolachlor, clofentezine, dimethomorph, and mepanipyrim, all of which are banned in the EU.
Environmental Impact
Nina Schrank, a senior campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: 'Our countryside is being drenched in pesticides, with devastating consequences for bees, birds, butterflies, rivers and the soil. Fields that once hummed with wildlife are falling silent while agrochemical giants rake in enormous profits and farmers are trapped in a costly cycle of chemical dependency.' The report also notes that even plants considered weeds can be vital wildflowers providing shelter and food for many creatures. Insects that eat crops are themselves food for other animals, and pesticides affect non-target species, leading to unintended consequences for entire ecosystems.
Government Response
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) responded: 'We place strict limits on pesticide residue levels in food, which are set after rigorous risk assessments to make sure levels are safe for consumers. These limits apply to both food produced domestically and imported from other countries. Our UK national action plan, published last year, sets out how we will support farmers, growers and other land managers to increase their use of sustainable practices to reduce potential harm from pesticides, while controlling pests and pesticide resistance effectively and protecting food security.'
