Panel formed to check pesticides in veggies

The Centre has formed an expert committee to examine periodically the fruits and vegetables, available in the open market, to ascertain if they contain pesticide residues, the Delhi High Court was informed on Tuesday.

The Centre has formed an expert committee to examine periodically the fruits and vegetables, available in the open market, to ascertain if they contain pesticide residues, the Delhi High Court was informed on Tuesday.

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Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A S Chandhiok told a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Rajiv Shakhder that the senior Union Agricultural Ministry had on February 14 convened a meeting of its senior officials with those of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Delhi government's Health Ministry on the issue.

"A six-member committee headed by the joint director of the Agriculture Ministry was constituted for framing a policy for periodic checks to detect pesticide residues," the law officer told the court in an affidavit.