Cases of high nitrate content in early vegetables were found in the Zhytomyr market Achi-News

Early spring vegetables appeared on the shelves of the Rye Market in the city of Zhytomyr. Among them: radish, cabbage, cucumbers and zucchini. The seller said that most of the vegetables are Ukrainian, and only zucchini is from Turkey so far. This is reported by Zhytomyr.info, agronews.ua writes.

Vegetable prices are different: the cheapest radish I could find cost UAH 75/kg, the most expensive – UAH 90, young cabbage – from UAH 60 to 85, cucumbers are asked for from UAH 120 to 200, zucchini is starting at UAH 100/ kg. Sellers say that compared to last year, the prices have almost not changed, and the people of Zhytomyr buy seasonal vegetables.

However, attention should be paid not only to their appearance and price, but also to their quality. Namely, the content of nitrates. At the local Rye Market laboratory, they ensure that they check the entire variety and allow only high quality products for sale.

“Around the middle of February, the season for trading early vegetables began. These are mainly: early cabbage, radish, cucumbers, zucchini. This period, as today, we examined 186 batches of radishes, of which we did not allow 50 batches to be sold, that is around 800 kilograms of radishes. We also examined 240 batches of cucumbers, and 60 cases had excess nitrates, and we did not allow them to be sold either. 120 batches of early cabbage were examined, only 4 cases were not allowed to be sold, and about 5 cases of zucchini were not allowed to be sold, out of about 30 batches,” said Yevgeny Davydov, head of the vet’s testing laboratory. and a sanitary inspection of the Rye Market.

Compared to last year, the head of the testing laboratory says that the percentage of unacceptable products for nitrate content is much higher this year.

“Today, I believe, and the statistical data shows that, for some reason this year, in terms of percentage, cases of exceeding the content of nitrates in cucumbers and radishes were found, compared to previous years. The excess is about 100-200 milligrams, in comparison, if the radish norm is 1200 mg / kg, then it is about 1400-1600 mg / kg. The excesses are small, but they exist, and for that there are norms, so that we comply with them,” said Yevgeny Davydov, head of the veterinary and sanitary inspection testing laboratory of “Rye Market”.