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Chains Pledge to Investigate : Alar Found on O.C. Apples in Stores Disclaiming Use

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Times Staff Writer

Red apples purchased from four of five Orange County supermarkets were found in independent tests to have residue of Alar, a possibly carcinogenic chemical that each of the stores claimed was not used by their apple suppliers.

The tests, conducted for The Times Orange County by a private San Francisco laboratory, found the highest levels of Alar--4.59 parts per million--in a sample of McIntosh apples from Albertson’s in Cypress, where signs had been prominently displayed claiming that all apples were Alar-free.

For the record:

12:00 a.m. May 21, 1989 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday May 21, 1989 Orange County Edition Part 1 Page 2 Column 6 Metro Desk 2 inches; 40 words Type of Material: Correction
The Times reported on April 30 that its testing had discovered Alar on apples sold by Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Market in Beverly Hills. Mrs. Gooch’s has challenged those test results and asserts that its own testing revealed no Alar in three of the four types of apples tested by The Times.

Upon hearing of the test results, the store’s manager said he planned to “pull them (the McIntosh apples) off the racks right now.”

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All levels of Alar residue detected in the tests of apples bought in Orange County were significantly lower than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s allowable limit of 20 p.p.m. But that limit--set before the chemical was linked to cancer in animals--could cause health problems over the long run, though not in the short run, an EPA spokesman said, adding that no detectable level of Alar is without risk. The EPA is expected to ban the chemical next year.

Apples with Alar residue also were found at Irvine Ranch Farmers Market in Irvine, an upscale market specializing in gourmet food, as well as at Vons Pavilions in Buena Park and Alpha Beta in San Clemente. All claimed either in signs or in response to questions before the testing that the apples were free of the controversial chemical.

In all, only six of 25 samples of red apples purchased from April 18 through 20 at five Orange County stores showed Alar residue. The markets were chosen randomly for a geographic sampling from Buena Park to San Clemente.

Spokesmen for the store chains expressed surprised at the test results, saying they had been assured by their suppliers that the apples were not Alar-tainted, and all pledged to investigate.

A representative of one of the growers that supplied apples with Alar residue to two stores angrily refused to comment.

Alar--the trade name for the chemical daminozide, which is used on some apple crops to extend shelf life--has been linked to cancer. Consumer advocates contend that children are particularly at risk because they eat disproportionately large amounts of apples, apple juice and applesauce.

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Of the five stores selected by The Times to have their apples tested, only Mother’s Market in Costa Mesa--a large health food store with a smaller branch in Huntington Beach--had red apples that showed no detectable traces of Alar.

The independent tests call into question the EPA’s estimates that Alar is used on only 5% to 10% of the nation’s apple crop and dramatize the need for an immediate ban on the chemical, according to a scientist with an environmental group that released a controversial study earlier this year.

And even the lowest level detected in the tests, 0.97 p.p.m., is high enough to indicate that the chemical was used during the crop’s growth and is not a residual trace left over from the spraying of previous crops, agreed spokesmen for the EPA and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the environmental group that released the study earlier this year about the chemical’s effect on children. Tests have shown that most apples from crops sprayed with Alar have levels of 1 to 5 p.p.m., consistent with the findings in the tests done for The Times, according to a senior scientist with NRDC.

Earlier testing for The Times at Los Angeles-area stores found Alar ranging from 0.59 p.p.m. to 9.48 p.p.m. in apples purchased at four upscale markets--Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Market in Beverly Hills, Gelson’s Markets in Century City, Bristol Farms in South Pasadena, and Farmers Market in Los Angeles. Tests on apples bought at two major supermarket chains, a Hughes market in Monterey Park and a Lucky store in Bell, had residues ranging from 0.97 p.p.m. to 9 p.p.m.

In the latest tests, Albertson’s officials said they were surprised by the results showing Alar residue in McIntosh apples. The grocery chain has had a policy since August, 1986, to not purchase apples treated with Alar, a policy that the suppliers are aware of, said Steve Hilton, manager of quality assurance at the supermarket chain’s headquarters in Boise, Ida. “The supplier of that product is, I think, going to read this news with chagrin. . . . We will certainly be in touch with him.”

He said Albertson’s periodically requests and receives test reports on some shipments, “although we don’t do it on all shipments.”

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Three other types of red apples purchased at the Orange County store--small and large Red Delicious and Rome Beauty--showed no detectable levels in The Times’ tests.

At the Los Angeles headquarters of Irvine Ranch Farmers Market, general manager Doug Sweeney said he was surprised and disappointed to learn that two of the six types of red apples sold at the chain’s store at 14443 Culver Drive, Irvine, had traces of Alar. The tests found 3.93 p.p.m. in Cortland apples and 1.2 p.p.m. in small Red Delicious apples, while Gala, Rome Beauty, large Red Delicious and McIntosh apples showed no detectable traces in the tests. The supplier had assured him that all apples were free of the chemical, he said.

“The wholesaler in Los Angeles that we buy from gave us a letter saying his packer, shipper and growers do not use Alar,” Sweeney said.

Irvine Ranch Farmers Markets used to contract with a laboratory to test apples but had to stop after the store sought protection under bankruptcy laws last July 22. “The expense is such that under bankruptcy conditions, we couldn’t afford it anymore,” he said.

Sweeney said last week that his supplier, when informed of the test results, indicated that he can produce letters from growers stating they do not use Alar.

“We don’t deal directly with the growers so until (the supplier) further investigates, we won’t know what is going on,” Sweeney said. “The supplier will have to pinpoint from what source he purchased the apples. The Cortland apple comes out of New York, and they are gone for the year, so we may not get results back. But with the Washington Red Delicious, we ought to find out why they contained Alar.”

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At two other stores, Alpha Beta and Vons Pavilions, Alar-tainted apples came in prepackaged bags from the Evans Fruit Co. in Yakima, Wash.

Officials of Evans Fruit were asked to comment on the finding of Alar, but a woman who identified herself only as the co-owner of the company hung up during a telephone call. Before doing so, the woman said angrily: “Do you consider yourself the watchdog of the community? Well, you just go ahead and do what you do, and what we do is immaterial.”

Apples from a 3-pound bag of Evans Fruit Co.’s “Washington State” brand Red Delicious apples, purchased at Alpha Beta in San Clemente, showed 2.73 p.p.m., the testing laboratory reported. Unpackaged small Red Delicious apples from the same Alpha Beta also tested positive, at 0.97 p.p.m.

Bill Wade, a spokesman for the Alpha Beta Co. headquarters in La Habra, said the grocery chain’s policy is to sell only apples from non-Alar-treated orchards.

“We’ve instructed all our growers not to use Alar on products sent to us,” Wade said. “We’re very clear about that. The state Food and Agriculture Department does the testing (on Alpha Beta apples and other produce), and we accept their testing.

“But a residual amount (of Alar) can remain on trees from previous years of use, and it can show up in low levels. Nonetheless, we want apples free of Alar, and we’ll be checking on this situation.”

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But the NRDC scientist disagreed, saying such levels do indicate that Alar was used on the current crop.

A spokeswoman for Vons Pavilions--the source of the second 3-pound prepackaged bag of Evans’ Fruit “Washington State” apples, this one with 1.08 p.p.m. of Alar--said the grocery chain will investigate the grower’s apples.

The sign over the apple bins at the chain’s Buena Park store, where the bag was bought, had this sign: “We only buy apples that HAVE NOT been grown with the chemical Daminozide, better known as Alar.”

Vickie Sanders, a spokeswoman for Vons Cos. Inc. at its El Monte headquarters, said the chain has random tests performed by the state Food and Agriculture Department, in addition to performing its own “quality assurance” checks.

“It’s impossible to test every apple,” Sanders said. “But in cases like this, as soon as we learn of any traces of Alar, we pull all those apples, because we’re taking every effort to safeguard the consumer’s health.

“We will take steps to visit with that company (Evans Fruit) and see that this does not happen again, but this does not mean that Evans’ apples are unsafe to eat.”

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At Mother’s Market in Costa Mesa, manager Sharon Macgurn said the store occasionally asks an employee of the state Food and Agriculture Department who lives in the area to test fruit.

“We feel pretty confident, and we’re glad you’ve confirmed it,” said Steve Markell, the store’s nutritional biochemist.

Mother’s Market sold six varieties of red apples last week, but only the organic apples--which must be certified to have been grown in a field where no fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators or any other chemicals have been used for a year--had signs attesting to their purity.

Lawrie Mott, senior scientist with the NRDC, said the tests done for The Times demonstrate the need for swift EPA action to remove the “non-essential chemical” from the market. “Retailers are in a difficult position. They have to accept suppliers’ claims, or they have to pay for their own expensive testing,” she said.

There is no known “safe level,” Mott said.

“Any level of exposure carries some risk. The higher the exposure, the higher the risk,” Mott asserted. “I think it’s a chemical we need to have taken off the market as soon as possible.”

EPA spokesman Albert Heier agreed that there is no “safe level” for Alar. “Whenever you have a pesticide that is a carcinogen, we don’t talk about a safe level,” he said.

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Heier said the level of 20 p.p.m. was set for field testing of apples. Alar breaks down quickly after the apples leave the field, and as it dissipates, the risk to humans lessens too, he said.

He said the fact that more than one-fifth of the apples in tests conducted for The Times were Alar-positive does not indicate that the EPA estimates of Alar treatment are wrong.

The apples for sale in markets now have been stored for many months, so it is possible that a higher percentage of them have been treated, because Alar lengthens shelf life, he said.

The Times’ tests were performed by Anresco Inc., a San Francisco laboratory. Each sample consisted of eight to 10 apples and was plainly packaged and coded so that the laboratory did not know the variety of apple or its source. The PAM II method--the official test method for daminozide--was used. It can detect levels of Alar from 0.5 p.p.m. and above.

Times staff writers Bill Billiter and Carla Rivera contributed to this story.

ALAR LEVELS IN ORANGE COUNTY APPLES

Twenty-five samples of red apples were purchased from five Orange County supermarkets from April 18 through 20 and tested for the presence of Alar. Alar, the trade name of daminozide, has been linked to cancer in animals. Each store had indicated it was selling Alar-free apples. Each sample contained seven to 10 apples. Six of the samples tested by a private lab indicated levels ranging from 0.97 to 4.59 parts per million. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set an allowable limit of 20 p.p.m., although a spokesman said no level is without risk.

Mother’s Market and Kitchen,225 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa.

“Organic Red Delicious” no detectable level

Red Delicious, small no detectable level

Red Delicious, large no detectable level

Gala, from New Zealand no detectable level

McIntosh no detectable level

Rome Beauty no detectable level

Alpha Beta,500 Camino de Estrella, San Clemente.

* 3-pound prepackaged bag of Red Delicious 2.73 p.p.m.

* Red Delicious, small 0.97 p.p.m.

Red Delicious, large no detectable level

McIntosh no detectable level

Irvine Ranch Farmers Market,14443 Culver Drive, Irvine.

* Red Delicious, small 1.2 p.p.m.

*Cortland 3.93 p.p.m.

5-pound prepackaged bag of Red Delicious no detectable level

McIntosh no detectable level

Gala, from New Zealand no detectable level

Red Delicious, large no detectable level

Rome Beauty no detectable level

Albertson’s,10051 Valley View St., Cypress.

* McIntosh 4.59 p.p.m.

Rome Beauty no detectable level

Red Delicious, small no detectable level

Red Delicious, large no detectable level

Vons Pavilion,8351 La Palma Ave., Buena Park.

* 3-pound prepackaged bag of Red Delicious 1.08 p.p.m.

Red Delicious, small no detectable level

McIntosh no detectable level

Red Delicious, large no detectable level

* Detectable level of Alar found

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