Are Indian vegetables banned in many countries? Fact Check

A newspaper clipping is being shared recently on WhatsApp claiming that several countries have banned vegetables from India due to pesticides. The context is that the Supreme Court on May 17, 2024 sought responses from ministries of health, agriculture, and the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on a PIL that alleged that the government has to stop overuse of pesticides in cultivation of food crops and that it posed a serious health hazard for people.

Digiteye India received the newsclip for fact-check and further search on X platform showed that the same was shared on X a month ago as seen below:

ज्यादा कीटनाशक प्रयोग करने से हमारा देश बीमार पड़ा।
लेकिन विश्व के अन्य देश पैसे के लिए शरीर से खिलवाड़ नहीं करते।
उन्होंने एकमत होकर भारत की जहरीली सब्जियों पर ही रोक लगा दी। pic.twitter.com/OFb6gPNndv

— भारत बचाओ आंदोलन (@bbarajivdixit) April 24, 2024

The claim in Hindi reads:”ज्यादा कीटनाशक प्रयोग करने से हमारा देश बीमार पड़ा।  लेकिन विश्व के अन्य देश पैसे के लिए शरीर से खिलवाड़ नहीं करते।
उन्होंने एकमत होकर भारत की जहरीली सब्जियों पर ही रोक लगा दी।” [Translated into English, it reads: “Our country became sick due to excessive use of pesticides. But other countries of the world do not play with the body for money. They unanimously imposed a ban on the poisonous vegetables in India.”]

The same clip was also shared on Facebook.

FACT-CHECK

Digiteye India took it up for fact-checking. The news clip is about a PIL before the Delhi high court pertaining to pesticides in fruits and vegetables. Based on the names of judges — Justice G. Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahay Endlaw, we searched on Google News and found the original PTI news report from February 11, 2015, published in Business standard.

The report said: “Many countries have banned the import of vegetables and fruits from India due to the excessive use of pesticides, Delhi High Court was told today. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was also informed through a report submitted by amicus curiae, appointed by the court, that in a number of vegetables and edible items, pesticide residue was found to be beyond permissible limits. The report further said that despite an excessive use of pesticides in edibles sold across Delhi, little has been done to curb the menace. It also said the problem was not limited only to Delhi but a “pan-India” one.”

Hence, the newsclip is from the issue of pesticides that had hit headlines in 2014 after a plea filed in Delhi High Court about the use of pesticides in fruits and vegetables reached the Delhi High Court where the judges expressed their concern over the ban on import by several countries. Other search results showed that the same newsclip has been used by many Facebook Pages here and here in 2017 and even in 2021.

Hence, the claim that some countries banned imports of fruits and vegetables from India was an old one and not recent.

Claim: Newspaper clipping claims that several countries have banned vegetables from India due to pesticides.

Conclusion: The claim is false. The newspaper clipping is from 2015 pertaining to the issue of pesticides that was taken up by Delhi high court and not recent.

Rating: Misleading —