Study on Factors Involving Safety of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Sold in Domestic Market and Recommmendation on Control Measures for Ensuring Safety of Vegetable and Fruits

Abstract

Increasing of pesticide used in crop production has negative impact on consumer trust on consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables (F&V). The objectives of this study were to identify the key factors involving in safety of F&V as well as to propose measures for improvement of safety control system of F&V sold in domestic market. The study methodology was mixed method that qualitative and quantitative data were investigated. Regarding the qualitative study, data of supply chain and production practices of F&V and legal control measures were collected by document study, onsite survey and in-depth interview. The qualitative data obtained were analysed by content analysis technique. The quantitative data were obtained from analysis of pesticide residues in F&V samples using GT- and TM/2-kits. The samples were collected from local markets covered all regions of Thailand. The Chi-Square test of independence was employed to determine relationship between variables and the presence of pesticide in the F&V samples as such information may imply the effectiveness of the control system. Results revealed that, in general, supply chain of F&V can be divided into 3 segments: the upstream which is crop production; the midstream which is collection including post-harvest operation; and the downstream which is processing, distribution and sale. It was found that the existing legal control measures at the upstream and midstream segments are under controlled of the Agricultural Commodity Standards Act of 2008 by which voluntary good agricultural (GAP) and good manufacturing practices (GMP) standards were implemented on agricultural commodity production for export. Besides, F&V for domestic consumption are controlled at midstream to downstream under the Food Act of 1979 by which mandatory GMP has been enforced solely on primary processing of F&V along with implementation of pesticide residue monitoring programme at retail level. F&V of 2,130 samples were tested for pesticide residues in order to verify the effectiveness of the said control systems and found 10% may not comply with standard. One of the key findings was that there was no relationship between implementation of voluntary GAP and GMP and the presence of pesticide residue in F&V samples (p> 0.05). However, F&V samples that possessed information for traceability tended to show lower violation rate than those were not traceable. Hence, it was proposed in this study that having traceability and quality assurance system in place along supply chain may be key factors to promote safety of F&V.