Pesticides in food: EU says levels are “stable”

27 Jul 2018 --- Europe’s food is mostly free from pesticides or levels are within the legal limits, according to the latest analysis. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says that pesticide levels in food numbers continue to be stable with more than 96 percent of the samples analyzed for the current annual report on pesticide residues in food within the legal limits; around 51 percent were free from quantifiable residues.

However, the legal limits were exceeded in 2.4 percent of the samples for products from EU and EEA countries; for samples from non-EU countries, it was 7.2 percent.

Key results for 2016
The reporting countries analyzed 84,657 samples for 791 pesticides with 96.2 percent (81.482) of the samples were within limits allowed under EU legislation and 50.7 percent of the samples tested did not contain quantifiable residues.

In the previous reporting year (2015), 97.2 percent of the samples were within the legal limits and 53.3 percent were free from quantifiable residues. The difference is mainly due to the detection of chlorate residues, a compound first included in the control programs in 2016 to support the ongoing work on MRLs.

Sixty-seven percent of the samples tested came from European Union countries EU, Iceland and Norway; 26.4 percent concerned products imported from third countries. In 6.6 percent of the samples, the origin of the products was unknown, says EFSA.

Of the 1,676 infant and infant food samples, 98.1 percent were within limits permitted by EU legislation; 89.8 percent of the samples contained no quantifiable residues.

In 2016, organic foods were sampled at 5,495, of which 98.7 percent were within legal limits and 83.1 percent were free of quantifiable residues.

EFSA also evaluates the results of the EU coordinated control program (EUCP), under which the reporting countries analyze samples from the same “basket” of foodstuffs for the same pesticides.

For 2016, these included apples, cabbage, leeks, lettuce, peaches, strawberries, tomatoes, rye, wine, cow's milk and pork fat.

The lowest MRLs were determined for rye (0.7 percent), followed by cabbage (1.1 percent) and strawberries (1.8 percent). The highest exceedances were observed in apples (2.7 percent) and tomatoes (2.6 percent).

Based on the results of the EUCP program, EFSA assessed acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) food-borne risks. In both cases, the health risks to consumers were considered low.

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, says that as in previous years, this report confirms that food on EU shelves is largely in line with regulatory standards. 

“Every year, thousands of foods are tested by the Member States to check that the legal limits are being met: it is our duty to ensure to European citizens that the EU food chain remains the most strictly regulated and controlled in the world, and take continuous improvement very seriously,” he says. 

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has also created a graphical tool which makes it easy to visualize key results by country and food. Available in four languages, the tool complements the existing data “dashboards,” which present the results in more detail and allow comparison with previous years.

The results can be visualized in two ways; by food and by land.