MRL team
What we do
The MRL team, part of the Pesticides Unit, provides independent scientific advice to the Commission on Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) of pesticides in or on food and feed.
The team is responsible for:
- assessing the potential risks to consumer health arising from existing MRLs or new MRLs applications
- assessing the potential risks to consumer health arising from active substances for which MRLs are not required
- developing and maintaining databases on information related to MRLs
- drawing up of the Annual Report on Pesticide Residues
- assessing the consumer exposure to pesticide residues on the basis of the residue findings in monitoring programmes
How we work
The MRL team provides scientific advice on MRLs in the form of reasoned opinions in cases of well-established scientific or technical principles. If questions arise during the assessments for certain MRLs and/or active substances that can not be resolved by the team, it may consult the Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues (PPR) for a scientific opinion.
In the safety assessments of EU MRLs or proposals for MRLs, the chronic and acute dietary consumer exposure to pesticide residues is estimated by using a calculation model developed by EFSA (PRIMo – Pesticide Residue Intake Model). The model is based on national food consumption figures and unit weights provided by Member States and implements internationally agreed risk assessment methodologies to assess the short-term (acute) and long-term (chronic) exposure of consumers.
The calculation model was initially developed by EFSA for the risk assessment of temporary MRLs. A revised version of the model for calculating the acute and chronic consumer exposure (revision 2) with additional features for refined intake calculations is also available. The revised PRIMo model and instructions for its use can be downloaded below.
EFSA calculation model Pesticide Residue Intake Model “PRIMo” revision 2
(2.3 Mb)
The MRL team is also responsible for the preparation of EFSA’s Annual Report on Pesticide Residues, which presents the results of the yearly monitoring of pesticide residues in foodstuffs in the 27 EU Member States and the EFTA countries Norway and Iceland. It also includes the findings of a risk assessment of the chronic and acute dietary exposure to pesticide residues measured in foodstuffs available on the European market. The quantitative estimation of the dietary exposure is performed on the basis of the pesticide monitoring data and is carried out by means of the PRIMo model which was updated for this purpose.
Contact points in the Member States
The MRL team works closely with a network of contact points in the Member States.
