12/09/2025
You may have seen on the news the story about the use of pesticides in blueberries found in several Sydney supermarkets and grocery stores. This has understandably caused a flurry of inquiries, so here are some answers.
Box Divvy sources most blueberries from OzBerries and Mountain Blue, one of Australia’s best-known blueberry farm. It’s family-owned and run by Ridley Bell and his son. The berries are packed under several different labels, including Eureka and Mountain Blue.
Mountain Blue is HARPS-accredited: this produce scheme is the most stringent when it comes to maintaining food safety and integrity standards. Mountain Blue is also heavily focused on sustainability, minimising the use of synthetic fertiliser, herbicides and pesticides. When they are forced to use chemicals, they observe strict ‘withholding periods’. For some chemicals, this can as long as 14 days - i.e. they are not allowed to harvest for at least 14 days after the chemical has been applied so that none or minimal amounts on residues are left on the berries. Having said that, we always recommend washing berries (or any fresh produce) before eating them.
An important reminder that, even though many local vegetables sourced by Box Divvy from the Sydney Basin from growers whom we know personally are spray-free most of the time, this does not mean that ‘Box Divvy is spray-free’. Like most things in life, the use of chemicals is never black & white. Even organic growers are allowed to use certain synthetic chemicals under certain circumstances.