Bananas over eco bananas

Consumers have become wary after a Swedish test showed residues of pesticides in the fruit. 

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  The photo that went viral shows how important ecological bananas have become in Sweden following a test last year that showed residues of pesticides in regular bananas. The sign reads: "Sprayed ugly bananas. Lack of both Krav and Eco. To be kept away from children". A Krav label in Sweden means the product has been produced or grown in a sound natural environment, and by people with a social responsibility. Eko means ecological, that is no pesticides.

• Bananas over eco bananas
  To say that ”eco bananer”, that is ecological bananas, are hot in Sweden would be an understatement. In stores and on line there are signs in circulation about non-organic bananas and how dangerous they are. This has resulted in record sales of eco bananas. For instance, when the Coop store in Genarp ran out of eco bananas, the store manager David Ahlm wrote on a sign attached to regular bananas: ”Sprayed ugly bananas”. A photo of that sign quickly went viral.
  ”We usually only sell ecological bananas, but one week we ran out of them, and so I did this,” says Ahlm about the note, which also cautions to keep the non-ecological bananas out of reach of children. Bananas in particular have had a great impact on consumers, especially since a Swedish test last year showed residues of pesticides in the fruit.

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  Image of Cavendish bananas, the most common banana type sold. Photo: Steve Hopson, www.stevehopson.com.

• ”Swedish eco consumers used to be different from the eco consumers in the rest of the world. The reasons for shopping ecological products in Sweden has a lot to do with animal protection also, as well as the environment and the health benefits,” says Cecilia Ryegård at Ecoweb, which follows the development for ecological products.
  She believes that ecologically produced potatoes and onions may be the next eco ”hit”. And grapes, which have also shown to carry residues of pesticides. When Coop during one week sold eco grapes at the same price as regular grapes, they sold as many grapes during that week as they usually sell in a year. ..the store must have had a whole lot of grapes to sell that week!

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