Watercress stallholders at the weekly flea market at Kuirau Park will be spoken to after revelations watercress taken from geothermal areas contain high levels of arsenic.
Recent studies commissioned by the Rotorua Lakes and Land Trust show a 230g serving of wild watercress would exceed the weekly dosage deemed safe, according
to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority.
Two stallholders sell watercress at the weekly Rotorua North Rotary Club charity flea market at Kuirau Park, and the manager of the market, Rick Mansell, said he planned to speak with them on Saturday.
Mr Mansell said one of the watercress sellers gets his watercress from Napier, Gisborne, East Coast and other places, mainly in rural areas.
The other stallholder gets the watercress from farms in Tauranga and Papamoa.
Mr Mansell said if it was found watercress was taken from geothermal areas, he would approach health authorities to see if tests could be done.
The Rotorua Lakes and Land Trust is a collective of two major rural land holding groups - Rotorua/Taupo Federated Farmers and Te Arawa Federation of Maori Authorities.
After more than two years of research and development of a watercress growing pilot project in the Wharenui Farm in Rotorua, trustee Tom Walters was convinced people had been oblivious to the hazard of watercress harvested from drains.
"We now know that we have picked and eaten watercress harvested downstream of the Wairakei Power Station on the Waikato River for more than 40 years, unaware until recently that that particular watercress was actually thriving on arsenic discharge from the geothermal generation system. What we have actually been eating is nothing less than poison."
But he is positive about the situation.
"It's an opportune time to look at nurturing the growth of a commercial entity, nurtured by the marae, because we know that the water going into it is very good, clean water. And obviously the water that comes out is going to be cleaner."
