No pesticide risk to cereals, firms say
Sanitarium and Hubbards say they have regular testing regimes specifically to detect the herbicide glyphosate in their breakfast cereals.
A recent international study found traces of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, in cereals sold in the United States. It followed a US court award to a man dying with terminal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that he blamed on use of the herbicide.
A Sanitarium spokeswoman said the company had a rigorous food safety and raw materials quality-assurance programme and ingredients were monitored for pesticides and herbicides to align with all requirements.
Hubbards chief executive Sean Kelly said both companies used the same suppliers and several had reiterated their testing regimes to him after recent articles about Roundup.
A leading importer of glyphosate, Yates, declined to comment about the volumes it imports, or the expected effect of a ban on Roundup sales by Mitre 10 and Bunnings.
Businesses, including Yates, are offering more glyphosate-free options for gardeners and a United Kingdom company claims to be leading the market in alternative products.
Matt Kirby, a director of UK-based Weedingtech, said his company had sent its first shipment of ‘‘eco-friendly, organic, and herbicide-free’’ weed control system to New Zealand.
Weedingtech was aiming at commercial producers and councils, he said.
Kirby said his company’s product, Foamstream, was a patented lowpressure
process combining hot water as the killing agent with a natural, and biodegradable foam creating a layer of thermal insulation above the water, ensuring heat was retained long enough to kill or sufficiently damage the treated vegetation.
Federated Farmers arable sector spokeswoman Karen Williams said there was a lot of concern within her industry that glyphosate might become a political football and there could be significant unintended consequences.
‘‘On my farm we’ve used a no-tillage system for 25 years where we avoid turning over the soil because this can affect the soil structure and lead to more run off into waterways as well as erosion, more carbon release and greater use of fossil fuels by machinery,’’ Williams said.
‘‘Instead, we graze down the old crop with sheep then use herbicide before we drill seed directly into the soil.
‘‘If we couldn’t do this there would be massive consequences for the way we farm and the price of food.
‘‘Any new system can effect farming and yields. We all want low-risk, quality and affordable produce for New Zealanders,’’ Williams said.
The Ministry for Primary Industries said its testing for glyphosate residues in wheat showed detections in 26 out of 60 samples.
Twenty samples contained glyphosate above the maximum residue level of 0.1 milligrams per kilogram.
The ministry said it had done ‘‘a rigorous assessment and is confident that at the levels detected there is no food safety issue to consumers’’.
‘‘At the highest level of residue detected – 5.9mg/kg – a consumer would have to consume 14kg of wheat-based products every day for their lifetime to reach the acceptable daily intake for glyphosate.’’