An Israeli agricultural organization is employing the same advanced technologies
to monitor pesticide presence in their vegetables as the FBI and CIA are using
to prevent potential chemical terrorism in America.
Yofi Shel Yerakot
(“Beauty of Vegetables”), an agricultural association based in Ein Yahav, is
using these instruments prior to marketing vegetables in order to ensure that
all peppers, eggplants, melons, watermelons and tomatoes are free of hazardous
pesticides before making it to the market. The equipment enables the
identification of hundreds of different pesticides in a single test, with the
ability to pinpoint tiny dangerous particles hidden within thousands of billions
of other particles, according to Yofi Shel Yerakot CEO Daniel Lev.
The
device can identify 300 different pesticides even in complex mixtures, including
materials that arrive unannounced by air or by greenhouse equipment, the
association said. Providing nearly complete supervision of the vegetables, the
equipment is also capable of monitoring air and water used during the growth
process to examine bacterial growth, Lev explained.
Vegetables under Yofi
Shel Yerakot jurisdiction cannot be picked without laboratory approval, and if a
failure is identified, the produce is not marketed until complete treatment of
the grounds occurs, an association statement said.
After harvesting the
vegetables, each crop then must undergo a quality control check according to
several parameters in order to determine its destination in either the private
consumer or industrial market. For example, a pepper with a scratched appearance
would not match consumer market standards but would be very beneficial for
industry, the statement explained.
“Without warning, they come to the
fields and take crops to check in the laboratory,” Rami Sade, an agronomist for
Yofi Shel Yerakot told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
The crops under the
association’s authority undergo their testing through an Israeli firm called Lab
Path, which imports the same equipment used by the FBI and the CIA. Unlike the
American intelligence organizations, the Ein Yahav association does not actually
use the technology to check for chemical terror in the crops – but the
incredibly expensive, sophisticated equipment allows Israeli agriculturists to
ensure that the vegetables they sell are entirely residue free and safe to eat,
Sade explained.
Each test alone costs NIS 100, and Lab Path conducts
thousands of tests for the association each year, he said.
Including
about 90 percent of the farms located in Ein Yahav, Yofi Shel Yerakot generates
approximately 17,000 tons of vegetables for the domestic market each year, and
an additional 17,000 tons for the United States and European markets,
association information said.