They are looking for heavy minerals in the vegetables of Viotia

Carrots, potatoes and onions will pass through the sieve of the EFET labs to investigate the effects of pollution on gardening products that arrive at our table on a daily basis... .

Four years after the dimensions acquired by the toxic bomb in Asopos river, bringing forth numerous questions about the quality of agricultural goods in super markets and farmers' markets, the State decided to deal seriously with the quality of vegetables from the polluted areas of Greece.

For several weeks EFET, in collaboration with the relevant ministries of Environment and Health and the General Laboratory of the State, have quietly been conducting the first tests on 250 samples of carrots from Viotia, while analyses are scheduled to be held in Messapia and Western Attica, which are showing high concentrations of hexavalent chromium and other heavy minerals.

It is estimated that reliable conclusions from the first samples will come in the beginning of summer and will be followed by checks on potatoes and onions.

The producers are fighting the investigations in court

A few months ago research carried out at the University of Athens conducted by assistant professor of Food Chemistry John Zabetakis, concerning vegetables from Thebes and Oinofyta, made alarming discoveries such as a 700% increase of nickel in carrots and three times higher levels of chromium, but also other heavy minerals like cadmium and lead.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, the alarming findings of the university were the cause that mobilized the state to investigate the case in depth, despite the fact that they were also the reason why the producers of Thebes turned against the professor.

According to their claims, this is an unjust defamation of their products and they are calling upon their own analyses of low concentration of heavy minerals, which show that the agricultural products are “clean”.

Information indicates that the samples of EFET have been taken from specific locations designated by the Environment ministry, based on parameters such as the waste produced by a region and the industrial pollution which has been observed, and are then compared with samples from clean areas.

The objective of the State is to put an end to the saga of agricultural products and the data disclosed from time to time, which spread panic among the consumers, so that if they find some «guilty» products, they can eliminate the crops in the problematic areas without affecting the rest of the producers.