[kryptoncalm]

More relevant is that 14 out of 64 samples had levels above the legally allowed limit (MRL), of which 12 pesticides that are not approved in the EU (page 12 of report). This is more severe than products 'containing' pesticides, which could as well be advancements in measurement.

Problematic products are: Peppers, dried (6x), Cumin (3x), Rice grain (2x), Tea leaves and stalks (1x), Non-fermented tea leaves (1x), Mix of spices (1x).

[Etheryte]

Cumin always shows up on these lists, whether it's with heavy metals or something else. It's to the point where I've more or less just stopped cooking with it because I don't trust it to be safe.

[dylan604]

Get yourself a dehydrator and try making it yourself. I've started doing this with my herb garden and the catnip I grow for my cats. They much prefer the stuff I make than the stuff from the store as much as I enjoy my fresh dried (oxymoronic??) herbs. I haven't tried cumin yet. We'll see how the peppers in this years attempt at gardening goes.

[MrDresden]

If this report is seeing spices from outside the EU containing contamination then there are organic options available, as I'm looking at my EU made (comes from France) organic certified Cumin.

[trick-or-treat]

How much heavy meals can be hiding in a pinch of cumin realistically? Maybe you should invest in a metal detector.

[account42]

The problem with lead (and presumably other heavy metals) is that exposure is cumulative as it gets accumulated in your body so there really isn't a safe amount.

[trick-or-treat]

While that's true (we should generally avoid ingesting lead).. Lead also gets excreted reasonably quickly.

In other words it's not a reason to avoid a few occasional pinches of cumin.

[enlyth]

I probably have a weird gene or something but cumin smells like disgusting body odour to me and any food that has any trace of it I cannot eat or I will gag

This doesn't happen to me with anything else, I'm not a picky eater and will happily eat literally anything else

[dyauspitr]

There is a hint of that it’s not just you but you get used to it and don’t notice it anymore. It’s kind of how most cheese has a persistent vomit smell.

[ripe]

> cumin smells like disgusting body odour

You're not wrong. If you smell pure cumin (without any other spices or herbs), particularly if you grind and mix it with yogurt to make a salty lassi, you get a whiff of body odor. My kids called it "the BO drink".

It's a weird thing, but the smell becomes quite different in combination with other smells. It's an ingredient in many expensive perfumes, believe it or not! [1]

[1] https://www.fragrantica.com/news/CUMIN-Polarizing-Note-of-Sw...

[why_at]

It's strange to me that this isn't the emphasis of the article.

I assume the MRL the lowest amount which could possibly cause harm? If so then why does it matter for the rest of the products where the levels are below that?

It could be for potential environmental harm, but then the fact that these are being exported at all should tell you that they're being used, you don't have to test consumer goods.

Their recommendations include this:

>2. Automatically lower all maximum residue levels (MRLs) of non-approved pesticides to the limit of detection to prevent these substances from making their way back onto European plates via a dangerous ‘boomerang effect

But is this scientifically supported?

[interludead]

The worrying part is not just that banned substances show up at trace levels, but that a non-trivial number of products were apparently over the legal limit