More pesticides than iron in Indian spinach

Spinach, well known for its rich iron content, comes laced with insecticides in Hyderabad as found by a study published recently by researchers from the Department of Entomology at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

To carry out the study, researchers G Geetha and C Sreenivas, collected samples of spinach from three main vegetable markets Gudimalkapur, Mehdipatnam and Shamshabad. While around 11 pesticides were found in the spinach samples, around five pesticides were frequently found in all the samples: chlorpyrifos, triazophos, cypermethrin, deltamethrin + triazophos and profenophos.

Dr Shashi Bhushan Vemuri, former head of All India Network Project on Pesticide Residues, said, “None of the pesticides found in the spinach samples should have been actually found as their usage on vegetables is not recommended. Spinach is often sprayed with pesticides just before it is brought into markets as the vegetable has big and soft leaves.”

Read more at The New Indian Express