Spanish strawberries among EU's least pesticide-contaminated

Published on 08/07/2026 - 13:44 GMT+2

Strawberries grown in Spain are among the least contaminated with pesticides in the entire European Union, according to a study published today by PAN Europe (source in Spanish) together with several NGOs, which analysed strawberry samples in eleven countries.

At European level, 88% of the strawberries analysed contain pesticide residues. Fifty-eight per cent of the strawberries are contaminated with PFAS, the so-called "forever chemicals" because of their persistence in the body and the environment, and more than half of the pesticides detected belong to the group of the most hazardous substances still authorised in the EU, the candidates for substitution, which should have been progressively phased out since 2011.

Spanish strawberries, the least contaminated

Spain is well below that average. The study detected only two pesticides in one of the two Spanish samples from conventional farming that were analysed, both authorised and below the legal limit. The other conventional sample contained no pesticides at all.

As for organic strawberries, in Spain and across the rest of Europe they were found to be completely free of residues in all the samples analysed, which reinforces organic consumption as the safest option when it comes to these toxic substances.

"Not only are organic strawberries free of pesticides, but a high proportion of conventionally grown strawberries are too, which shows that Spain can and must grow without pesticides," says Kistiñe García, coordinator of the toxic substances group at Ecologistas en Acción.

The authors of the report argue that these results undermine any case for relaxing the rules on pesticides and call for a stricter application of the rules already in place.

"Semi-slavery" for women working in the sector

Koldo Hernández, coordinator of the organisation’s water programme, also points to other impacts of intensive strawberry cultivation, such as high water consumption and the working conditions of women in the sector, which he describes as semi-slavery.