Ecologistas en Acción accuses five autonomous communities of supplying, under the Programa Escolar de Frutas y Hortalizas fruit and vegetables to schools that frequently showed pesticide residues in official residue checks in 2024. The regions concerned are Madrid, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Andalusia and Murcia. elDiario.es reported this on 10 September 2026, citing tender documents and data from the Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición.
The analysis specifically names oranges, tomatoes, apples and pears as products listed in contracts that were among the ten product groups with the most pesticide detections in 2024. It is based on the 2024 residue report by the AESAN and the organisation’s dossier “Directo a tus hormonas 2026”, which compiles findings on individual substances. Ecologistas en Acción says children are particularly sensitive to toxic substances because their physical development is not yet complete. The organisation cites studies linking chronic exposure to certain pesticides with hormonal disruption, neurological impairment and increased health risks.
The organisation criticises the tenders for giving greater weight to economic criteria without making organic production a requirement. In several regions, requirements for short supply chains or organic quality were absent or merely optional. At the same time, Ecologistas en Acción acknowledges that the programme generally improves access to fresh fruit and vegetables in schools. However, the environmental organisation calls for public procurement to prioritise organic production, regional origin and strict residue requirements as binding award criteria.
The analysis identifies as positive examples some procedures that took proximity to the place of production or organic farming into account as evaluation criteria. The documents reviewed do not consistently provide specific contract volumes, supplier lists or batch details. The reported findings relate to the 2024/2025 school year, while the underlying test results come from official checks carried out in 2024. Regardless of the contracts, food safety in Spain is centrally monitored, and residues below legal limits are permitted. The issue here is not whether individual batches were lawful, but whether public authorities should align procurement more closely with precautionary principles.
elDiario.es’s report has brought the criticism back into focus at the start of the 2026/2027 school year. The statements and assessments are attributed to Ecologistas en Acción; the official data come from AESAN’s 2024 residue monitoring programme.
Editor: Andreas M. Brucker (Article created with AI assistance).