Risk from pesticide residue in common food products remains low, flags EFSA

Pesticide residues are unlikely to affect human health, based on an analysis of commonly consumed food products by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). 

EFSA analyzed thousands of samples collected in 2023 from Iceland and Norway from 12 of the EU’s most widely eaten food products under the EU Multiannual Control Program.

The program samples random commodities every three years. In 2023, it analyzed samples of carrots, cauliflowers, kiwi fruits (green, red, and yellow), onions, oranges, pears, potatoes, dried beans, brown rice, rye, bovine liver, and poultry fat for pesticide residues.

From this subset, 99% were understood to comply with EU legislation. This finding is consistent with the results obtained in 2020 (99.1%), when the same selection of products was studied.

Nearly 70% of the 2023 samples were free of quantifiable residue levels, while 28% had one or more residues within legal requirements.

Some 2% of samples surpassed maximum residue levels, and 1% were non-compliant after accounting for the measurement uncertainty.

EFSA’s report on pesticide residues also covers the results from the Multiannual National Control Program, which gathers data from targeted sampling, based on the level of risk. These national programs found that out of 132,793 samples, 98% were compliant with EU legislation.

EFSA’s dietary risk assessment, part of the analysis, indicates that consumers will be exposed to a quantity of residues higher than a certain safety benchmark. However, the report concludes that there is a low risk to consumer health based on the estimated exposure in the food samples tested.

The authority recommends that member states further investigate and monitor pesticide and crop combinations leading to non-compliances and continue scrutinizing for residues in samples that enter the EU from outside.