France halts imports of food with traces of banned pesticides

France on Wednesday officialised a ban on food imports containing traces of five pesticides currently banned in the EU, a move aimed at easing farmers' opposition to the Mercosur trade deal with four South American nations.

France's influential farming lobbies are pushing the government to block the Mercosur accord, which is being discussed by the bloc's agriculture ministers in Brussels at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday.

The five substances targeted include the fungicides mancozebe, thiophanate-methyl, carbendazim and benomyl, used on produce ranging from avocados and mangos to wheat and soybeans.

The fifth substance, glufosinate, is an herbicide widely used on potatoes.

They are all banned in the EU for health risks, but current rules allow trace levels of them on food imports to the bloc, which France now deems too high. 

Many of the imports that would be banned are from South America, "but this measure is not aimed at South America, but all countries that treat these fruits and vegetables with these five products", an agriculture ministry official said on condition of anonymity earlier this week. 

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The French measure still needs the green light from the EU Commission, which will examine it on January 20, the ministry said in a statement. 

Commission officials have already said they are ready to renegotiate the rules on trace elements of banned pesticides, which affect only a tiny fraction of produce sales in the bloc.

More than 25 years in the making, the Mercosur deal would create the world's biggest free-trade area, boosting commerce between the 27-nation EU and the bloc comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.

But it has alarmed many European farmers who fear they will be undercut by a flow of cheaper goods.

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