REWE Group Publishes Third Status Report on Chemical Pesticides

Cologne, 27.09.11

Residues on conventional fruits and vegetables reduced even further

During the past year, REWE Group once again made substantial progress in achieving its goal of reducing steadily the use of pesticides for conventional fresh fruit and vegetables. The quantity of pesticides declined considerably in comparison with both 2009 and the previous years.

The assessment of the pesticide residues is based on two fundamental criteria: the chronic and the acute risk to health from pesticide residue. The chronic risk to health from pesticide residue on conventional fruit and vegetables at REWE Group has been reduced by almost 50 per cent since 2007. The so-called acute risk was more than halved in comparison with the previous year and is now only at 12 per cent of the level of the comparison year 2007. The independent Austrian environmental protection organisation GLOBAL 2000 was once again commissioned to evaluate and assess more than 7,200 samples of over 100 different fruit and vegetable products from about 60 countries of origin.

This is the third status report on “Chemical Pesticides” already; REWE Group is the only food trading company in German to publish such a report, which is available for downloading on the internet. The status report “Chemical Pesticides” (available in German) is just under 400 pages in length and contains detailed assessments according to product, type, country of origin and chemical compounds used for the most important types of fresh produce and an evaluation of the pesticide residue of the overall fruit and vegetable product line in the form of risk indices.

Within the framework of the Pesticide Reduction Programme (PRP) initiated by REWE International AG, GLOBAL 2000 has developed its own maximum permissible tolerances, the so-called “PRP values”, for the assessment of the chronic health risk from pesticide residues. These values are mostly significantly below the statutory requirements and apply to the entire fresh fruit and vegetable sector. In addition, an annual consumption quantity is taken into account. The internationally recognised Acute Reference Dose (ARfD) is applied for the assessment of the acute health risk.

Despite this remarkable reduction in pesticide residue load, GLOBAL 2000 still sees need for further action. Above all, the environmental protection organisation sees the continued use of substances which are in part problematic in the cultivation of fresh fruit and vegetables as critical. GLOBAL 2000 recommends that these substances be added to the REWE Group negative list. The Cologne-based Group shares this opinion as a matter of principle and is working on the conversion to alternative plant protection measures wherever possible.

REWE Group, founded in 1927, has turnover in excess of €53 billion (2010) and currently employs a workforce of more than 310,000, making it one of the leading trading and travel and tourism companies in Germany and Europe. The company, which has a history extending back more than 80 years, operates over 15,000 stores in currently 14 countries today. In 2010, the Group employed a workforce of 224,000 in about 11,000 stores in Germany, realising turnover of €36.5 billion.

Its sales lines include supermarkets and hypermarkets of the brands REWE, REWE CENTER, REWE CITY, toom and BILLA, the discounter PENNY, the toom BauMarkt DIY stores (toom Baumarkt and B1 Discount Baumarkt) and the consumer electronics stores of ProMarkt. The travel and tourism division includes the tour operators ITS, JAHN REISEN, TJAEREBORG, Dertour and Meier's Weltreisen in addition to the business travel segment FCm Travel Solutions and about 2,500 travel agencies (including ATLASReisen, DER Reisebüro, DERPART).

The (German version of the) status report “Chemical Pesticides” is available for downloading at: www.rewe-group.com/Statusbericht-Pflanzenschutz

If you have any questions, please contact:
REWE Group Corporate Communications, Phone: +49 (0)221–149–1050
presse(at)rewe-group.com

GLOBAL 2000 Spokesperson, Mag. Nanu Kaller, Phone: +43 1 812 57 30-20, presse@global2000.at

Contact

REWE GROUP-Corporate Communications
Tel.: 0221 - 149-1050
E-Mail: presse(at)rewe-group.com

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