Spanish strawberries among least pesticide-contaminated in the EU
Published on 08/07/2026 - 13:44 GMT+2•Updated 14:10 Strawberries grown in Spain are among the least...
Published on 08/07/2026 - 13:44 GMT+2•Updated 14:10
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 that analysed strawberry samples in 11 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 ones authorised in the EU, the candidates for substitution, which should have been progressively phased out since 2011.
Spanish strawberries are the least contaminated
Spain lies 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.
If we look at organic strawberries, both in Spain and across the rest of Europe, they were completely free of residues in all the samples analysed, which reinforces organic consumption as the safest option against these toxic substances.
"Not only are organic strawberries free of pesticides, but so is a high proportion of those grown conventionally, which shows that Spain can and must farm 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 the case for relaxing pesticide rules, and call for a stricter enforcement of the rules already in place.
"Semi-slavery" among women working in the sector
Koldo Hernández, the organisation's water programme coordinator, also points to other impacts of intensive strawberry farming, such as high water consumption and the working conditions of women employed in the sector, which he describes as semi-slavery.
