The French love the salad, especially in summer, when its freshness is appreciated, and its endless possibilities!

In 2018, households in France had thus purchased nearly 52,000 tonnes of bagged salads, for the modest sum of 466.6 million euros, according to data from the Syndicate of manufacturers of fresh vegetable products ready to eat. use. The packaged salad is attracting more and more people, because it is very practical for those in a hurry: no need to wash and cut the leaves yourself, just pour the contents into a salad bowl, and it’s ready!

But lovers of this vegetable pleasure must be vigilant: at the moment, no less than 8 different sachets are the subject of a new recall procedure in stores across the whole of France. A check would have detected too much chlorpyrifos, a pesticide whose content is regulated at European level.

This active substance has an insecticidal effect and is often used to treat various fruits and vegetables, including spinach and salads. “The latter may therefore contain residues of this molecule if they come from countries where it is still used and authorized. Chlorpyrifos is prohibited in Canada”, specifies the site goodplanet.fr

Because this pesticide, if present in too large quantities, presents serious dangers to the health of consumers.

“Chlorpyrifos is toxic for the central nervous system, that is to say neurotoxic, and it is an endocrine disruptor which acts in particular on thyroid signaling. It can therefore interfere with brain development”, explained the newspaper Le Monde in a 2019 article entitled “Chlorpyrifos: the ignored dangers of a toxic pesticide”. The substance is, among other things, associated with IQ deficits in children.

In our slideshow, discover the 8 sachets of salads that are currently the subject of a recall because of the pesticide, and all the supermarkets where you have to bring them back.