Those associations have the obligation to monitor what Croatian consumer eat, ROZP president and Consumer Alliance secretary Zeljko Tomasic told Hina, adding that ROZP was informed about the dangerous lemons in many shopping malls from its members on the ground.
Tomasic said he visited several malls today and found that they also sold lemons from Spain treated with imazalil, one the most dangerous pesticides. He said these lemons were twice as expensive as those from Turkey and second-rate.
He said some experts claimed that such lemons were not toxic if consumed in small quantities, but added that the sale of such lemons represented "unfair business practice which is prohibited and punishable under the Consumer Protection Act."
Tomasic said fruit was sold in bulk and that, when purchased as such, there was no basic information about the product, although merchants should provide it under the law. He added that packaged products contained such information, but that it was barely legible.
According to ROZP, imazalil penetrates lemon peel and is carcinogenic, causing central nervous system problems in babies and small children and affecting the reproductive system in adults.
Everybody uses lemons, most frequently the most vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and sick persons, Tomasic said, adding that ROZP's campaign "wasn't launched against Turkish lemons but to warn consumers to find out what they are buying and that they are entitled to complete information when making a purchase."