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The government of the Philippines’s plant and crop development agency has opened a new pesticide testing laboratory in Cebu City to help improve food safety standards in the country.
In a statement over the weekend, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said the new facility was opened last Oct. 16 in San Roque, Cebu City to expand its testing capacity for pesticide residues and promote safer and more sustainable agricultural practices.
″This new facility is an initiative of BPI and funded by the Department of Public Works and Highways Region 7, which aims to strengthen food safety testing and certification and support farmers and exporters through science-based quality assurance,″ BPI said.
The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA), another attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), highlights how pesticides undergo various changes once applied to plants from absorption through leaves, fruits or roots to eventual breakdown within the crop system.
These changes emphasize the importance of closely monitoring pesticide behavior in crops to ensure that residue levels remain within safe limits and do not pose risks to consumers or the environment.
Residue data form a key part of the government’s registration and approval process for pesticides.
These data are obtained through supervised pesticide residue trials, which involve carefully controlled testing of how much chemical remains in crops after treatment and harvest.
The results of these trials help regulators assess potential health effects on both humans and animals.
By understanding how residues behave in raw agricultural products and livestock feed, government regulators set limits that protect consumers while allowing farmers to use pesticides responsibly and effectively.
