Imazalil and the case of the unwaxed lemons

[Daisy]

Opening one of those annoying nets of fruit - in this case unwaxed lemons - I noticed on the label it said "Post-harvest treatment: Imazalil" .

I'd never heard of it so I Googled it and was shocked by what I found. Basically, it seems that Imazalil is a fungicide, described as "hormone-disrupting" is used on all sorts of fresh produce, especially citrus fruits, to prolong shelf life.

One source of information said "it's probably not carcinogenic in the levels used on produce"! Others were more concerned! The link below is just one of the sources of information I read.

I know we "should" wash fruit etc before use, and it seems that washing under running water is better than dunking them in a bowl of water, but even so, nobody seemed very confident about the amount of pesticide residue that remained.

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/citrus.php

[Nanto2girls]

I've never heard of Imazalil either.
The only citrus fruit we buy is oranges. Hubby eats them,but i don't.
We always was fruit, but can Imazalil penetrate into the fruit itself.

[Sum1Ls]

You are right to be concerned. It’s completely banned in the EU. But now….well, it’s a Brexit bonus. We need to be very watchful and a bit scared. It’s banned in California too.

[Gemini]

It ought to to banned here as well then.
Back to the washing everything of year 1 of the pandemic then I think!

[Oma]

Scary , just shows we don’t know what we are eating .

[Daisy]

I think it's scary. One of the sources I read said it can also be present in green leafy products like lettuce, spinach, kale, etc.

[Mimi]

You have to wonder what we are consuming in and on our food unbeknown to us on a daily basis and if it's having any impact on our health and wellbeing!

[Daisy]

You are right to be concerned. It’s completely banned in the EU. But now….well, it’s a Brexit bonus. We need to be very watchful and a bit scared. It’s banned in California too.

Sum1, these lemons came from Spain, and I'm now reading the labels and all the Spanish citrus fruit seems to be treated with a cocktail of chemicals.

Mimi, I'm becoming more and more convinced that a lot of the food we eat is actually doing us harm as all sorts of chemicals accumulate in our bodies.

[Sum1Ls]

https://www.fruitnet.com/eurofruit/citrus-industry-wins-temporary-reprieve/179437.article

Daisy this is the article I was relying on. In 2019 a three temporary reprieve was given to EU producers. This comes to an end this year. We are now not in the EU so it doesn’t apply.

I suppose the only answer is to buy organic. Of course they are more expensive …

[Daisy]

Sum1, many thanks for that ink. It's one I hadn't seen previously. It sounds a horrible chemical to be used on our food, and I hope it's soon banned everywhere.