Now it's strawberries

[imastawka]

Is there no end to what we have to put up with, concerning our food?   

About 70 per cent of Australian strawberries are being fumigated with an environmentally damaging pesticide that has been banned around the world.

Methyl bromide is an odourless and colourless gas which was banned under the United Nations Montreal Protocol in 1989 because it depletes the ozone layer.

Australia agreed to phase it out by 2005 but a decade later, nine strawberry runner growers at Toolangi, in Victoria's Yarra Valley, are still using nearly 30 tonnes a year.

They produce 100 million strawberry runners annually, which in turn generate about 70 per cent of Australian strawberries.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-29/toxic-pesticide-used-on-australian-strawberries/6354488

[bushies.girl]

I grow my own, much nicer

[j*oono]

Can you get them any time you want to Bushies when you need a bowl full?  

I've grown strawberries but you're only going to get one pavlova and a fruit salad out of them in a year.

[bushies.girl]

More than that grown here, I dont eat pavola and only eat locally grown fresh fruit when it's in season

[lurker172602]

I knew I was into something with my no red food policy   First it was the berries, now the strawberries.  If they can get something on the tomatoes I'm on the tri-fecta!  

[debra9275]

oh no- please, not the tomatoes.

I hope they are safe

[***super_nova***]

It is not the strawberries that are fumigated but the soil for the runners.  I do not think the gas affects the fruit, but it does damage the ozone layer.  Apparently, the alternatives used elsewhere are too expensive and if used punnet of strawberries would cost $10.  I wonder how much strawberries cost in other countries.