Pesticide residues in food
When pesticides are used to protect plants, they can leave traces in food. These traces are called pesticide Substance used to kill or control pests, including disease-carrying organisms and undesirable insects, animals and plants residues.
The EU has strict rules to protect our health from pesticide residues such as setting maximum residue levels (MRLs).
Pesticide residues are systematically monitored in all food on the EU market, whether imported or produced in the EU.
Each year, the EU analyses more than 100,000 food samples.
Milestones
2017
EFSA starts accompanying its annual report on pesticide residues with data visualisations, which allow users to view data from the report in graphs and charts.
2009
EFSA publishes its first annual report on pesticide residues, based on data from monitoring of pesticide residues in food products in 2007.
EFSA's role
Analysis of applications for new or revised MRLs
In cooperation with the evaluating Member State, we perform a consumer risk assessment for a combination of an active substance/crop, and we propose MRLs.
Review of existing MRLs for active substances
We review existing MRLs for an active substance, propose MRLs and perform a consumer risk assessment for all crops for which European authorisations or import tolerances are authorised.
Risk assessments in relation to ad-hoc requests
We support decisions taken on MRLs by EU legislators by providing risk assessments based on ad-hoc requests for specific pesticides.
Preparation of an annual report on pesticide residues
We prepare an annual report on pesticide residues in food, based on controls by EU Member States [1] plus Norway and Iceland.
Annual report on pesticide residues
EU Member States carry out controls to ensure that food placed on the EU market is compliant with legal limits. The European monitoring programmes are among the most comprehensive food survey programmes in the world.
100,000+
600+
We analyse the data from the reporting countries and prepare an annual report, assessing the exposure Concentration or amount of a particular substance that is taken in by an individual, population or ecosystem in a specific frequency over a certain amount of time of consumers to pesticide residues in food and identifying areas of concern.
We also share advice on how to make future control programmes more efficient.
Since 2017, we have accompanied each report with data visualisation tools to make the information more accessible through charts and graphs.
FAQ on pesticide residues
For each annual report, EFSA’s scientists perform an acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) dietary risk assessment by combining the occurrence The fact or frequency of something (e.g. a disease or deficiency in a population) happening data with food consumption information provided by Member States.
Based on our assessment and latest reports, we conclude that there is a low risk to consumer health from the estimated exposure to pesticide residues in the foods tested.
Our annual report contains three data sets:
Under the EU-coordinated programme, different groups of food products are analysed in a three-year cycle. The samples are taken randomly to get statistically representative results for the food consumed by European citizens.
Under the national control programmes, EU Member States focus on products considered most at risk of containing residues that exceed legal limits.
Also, twice a year, the European Commission and EU Member States check the non-compliance rate of food products from import controls, reviewing a given frequency of checks for a certain country of origin.
If a pesticide residue in food is found to exceed the maximum residue limit (MRL), this does not automatically mean the food is non-compliant with EU rules.
To confirm whether a sample is non-compliant, our experts take into account any potential sources of error. They do this by applying a margin (known as the measurement uncertainty Scientific concept used in risk assessment to describe all types of limitations in available knowledge at the time an assessment is conducted, with the agreed resources, that affect the probability of possible outcomes to the assessment) around the result which represents the range within which the true value is expected to lie.
A sample is classified as non‑compliant only if the measured residue level remains above the MRL The maximum amount of a pesticide residue allowed in foods or animal feeds, expressed as milligrams per kilogram even after this measurement uncertainty margin is applied.
If a pesticide residue exceeds an MRL, a Member State can impose a fine on a food operator and - if a health risk is identified - withdraw the food from the market and alert other Member States.
The presence of multiple pesticide residues does not signify non-compliance with legislation on maximum residue limits (MRL) as long as individual pesticides do not exceed the legal limits.
However, products with multiple residues should be assessed carefully by the national authorities (for example, to consider whether combinations of pesticides are being used deliberately to circumvent MRL limits on single substances).