The Brazilian Association of Exporting Producers of Fruits and Derivatives (ABRAFRUTAS) in partnership with Corteva Agribusiness promoted today (17) in the morning, training on Maximum Waste Limit (LMR) and Tolerance. MRL is the maximum amount of agrochemical residues officially allowed in food.
"Challenges of the world food trade: Maximum Waste Limit (MRL) and import tolerances" was the theme of the training that had the participation of experts from Corteva Agribusiness.
The leader of corteva's food chain, Manuel Recalde, explained about the food trade and the factors that have influenced the new trends. According to him, the world's population is expected to grow to 10 billion and food availability is expected to increase by 23%. However, he says that to increase food production worldwide it is necessary to incorporate innovation, technology and sustainability in agriculture.
Recalde points out that it is the great challenge not only to produce in large quantities and with quality, but also to understand consumers and their needs, in addition to performing distribution and reduction of food losses, which in the case of fruits reaches 45.7%.
According to corteva's representative, crop protection products are essential to produce high quality food in adequate and efficient quantities. Brazil is a major producer and exporter of fruits to the world and the challenge is great with regard to LMRs, because it exports more than it imports and the producer ends up complying with many regulations.
Latin America's leader of LMR and export tolerance, Amália Ponzio, has addressed food security. For her, there are two dilemmas in the food trade, one that involves the producer who needs to protect the crop to produce high quality food in sufficient quantity in an economical way and at the other end of the food chain is the consumer who demands a high quality food, free of pests and diseases that is a safe food, free of residues.
In a survey presented by Ponzio, conducted a few years ago in Europe, showed that 32% of those surveyed feel unsafe regarding residues of protective products in cultivation. However, Ponzio states that the presence of residues in food has no meaning from the point of view of food safety and that the risk to human and environmental health depends on the level of exposure.
"The presence of waste brings negative perceptions, but that does not mean that there is no food security," he said.
The training that will be held again was online and had the participation of more than 65 members of Abrafrutas.
