Pesticide residues exceed legal limits in four of 20 Istanbul supermarket lemons, Greenpeace says
Every sample contained multiple pesticides, an average of more than seven per lemon, according to laboratory tests commissioned by Greenpeace Türkiye.
Four of 20 lemon samples bought from major supermarket chains in Istanbul contained pesticide residues above legal limits, Greenpeace Türkiye said Monday after commissioning tests at an internationally accredited laboratory.
The environmental group bought the lemons in September from A101, BİM, CarrefourSA, Migros and ŞOK stores in four Istanbul districts. Three of the samples that broke the limits came from BİM and one from Migros.
Even lemons within the limits carried a mix of chemicals. All 20 samples contained more than one pesticide, with 144 residues found in total, an average of 7.2 per lemon. Samples from A101 and BİM averaged 8.25 different pesticides, compared with 7.5 for CarrefourSA, 6.5 for Migros and 5.5 for ŞOK. Two A101 samples each contained 10 different pesticides.
The tests are part of Greenpeace's "What's Inside?" campaign, which asks retailers to commission independent laboratory audits and publish the results, cap products at three different pesticides to limit combined effects, set internal limits 20% below legal ones and support farmers moving to ecological methods.
"We have received the first response to our core demand that the analyses be made public," said Berkan Özyer, director of Greenpeace Türkiye, noting that Migros has begun publishing its results. The report did not include comment from the supermarket chains.
This brief is based on reporting by the İklim Haber newsroom, published Oct. 5, 2026. Read the original: https://www.iklimhaber.org/turkiyedeki-marketlerin-limon-karnesi-20-ornekten-4unde-limit-asimi/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
