New Low in Reporting on Pesticide Use in Cherry Production

Last night (June 19, 2025), in the RTL4 broadcast of Humberto Tan, a new low was reached in the spread of completely incorrect information about crop protection products on cherries, leading to an entire discussion about pesticides in general. Shocking that the production team did not have an editorial check at the door to verify whether the people discussing the topic had any knowledge or authority in this field.

Guest Marijn Frank from Keuringsdienst van Waarde stated with a straight face that the cherry insecticide Tracer, which has a temporary approval, contained the active substance glyphosate. She then discussed the risks that glyphosate purportedly poses to cherries, citing Italian research released a few weeks ago that supposedly demonstrated a link between glyphosate and leukemia. Multiple investigative journalists, including Simon Rozendaal and Maarten Keulemans, have since raised serious questions about this research, but more important is the fact that it is complete nonsense that there would be glyphosate in the organic insecticide Tracer.

Political reporter Floor Bremer, who already apologized for not being well-versed in the subject, then claimed again that glyphosate has been highly controversial in insecticides for many years. It is of course utter nonsense that Dutch fruits and vegetables contain glyphosate. Glyphosate is a herbicide, which is not sprayed on the crop. It is incomprehensible that a show like this did not invite real experts on the spotted‐wing drosophila, such as Wageningen researcher Herman Helsen. Rarely have I seen such a glaring mistake.

Marijn Frank and Humberto Tan then moved on to a broadcast by Keuringsdienst van Waarde about the so-called risks of (approved) residues in vegetables and fruit for babies and pregnant women. It is incomprehensible that Marijn Frank, who must by now be aware of the severe criticism she received from the Nutrition Center regarding that broadcast, still stands by those statements. The Nutrition Center has extensively explained on its website that babies and pregnant women can safely eat fresh fruits and vegetables without concern, citing numerous scientific experts.

The facts about cherries:

· For about 12 years there has been an invasive insect, the spotted‐wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), which attacks all soft fruits in the Netherlands as well as wild berries. The insect has 6–8 generations per year. Each female can lay 300 eggs in the fruit. Unlike normal fruit flies, which do not damage intact fruit, this species lays eggs in ripening fruit, where they develop into small larvae. Logically, batches of cherries or other soft fruits with any infestation are completely unsellable.

· In professional cherry cultivation, mesh is used, keeping the fruit fly largely out of the orchard and reducing spray needs to only 20% of what was required five years ago.

· In the Netherlands, two effective products are available against the spotted‐wing drosophila, while many more are approved internationally. In the Netherlands, one product is Exirel. It is authorized only once every three years domestically, though twice per year internationally. Exirel now has a full registration. The second product is the organic product Tracer, i.e. spinosad. It is a biological product of natural origin, approved for many other crops and widely used in organic horticulture. Internationally, it is also widely used for vegetables and fruit. In the Netherlands the manufacturer has not yet applied for full registration on cherries, as the crop area is too small to justify the cost, requiring annual emergency authorizations instead.

· Last year, the emergency authorizations for Tracer and Exirel only arrived during harvest, with strict conditions on application. Because the requirements became clear so late, growers did not always have their spray setups prepared. In 2024, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) made inspections of often small cherry growers a priority. There were clearly too many spray regulation violations—for example, requiring growers to use 99% drift‐reducing nozzles. Some growers had upgraded to 95% or 97.5% drift reduction but had not yet invested in 99% nozzles because of cost recovery time. Some still used Exirel despite spraying in 2023. Finally, there were growers at the end of their careers with small cherry plots who had lost their spraying certificates/training. These violations are clearly unacceptable, but they cause no real risk to public health. Nevertheless, NVWA used the poor compliance to advise against the renewal of the Tracer exemption. We must remember that no other country in Europe has Tracer and Exirel rules as strict as the Netherlands. Abroad, both products can be used 2–3 times with far less stringent application rules. In response to poor compliance, cherry growers took a hard look at themselves. Some stopped growing cherries, and many others invested in new spraying technology. The Dutch Fruit Growers’ Organisation strongly advocated for Tracer emergency use based on these grower measures. The CTGB supported this, but NVWA remained opposed. Ultimately, both the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management decided to grant the temporary Tracer authorization, since without it Dutch cherry production would be at risk of ending.

I hope RTL and Humberto will have the courage to fully correct the errors from their June 19 broadcast and apologize to the fruit growers they have undeniably harmed. Moreover, I hope Floor Bremer and Marijn Frank will study this matter much more thoroughly before making such statements on a mainstream talk show.

Finally, I hope everyone, including Youp van ’t Hek, will thoroughly enjoy Dutch cherries, which are now widely available.