Food: Testing for Pesticides

In 2022 in EU More than 110,000 samples from 12 groups of agricultural products were collected and tested for the presence of pesticide residues.

The latest EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) report concluded that the risk to consumer health, based on samples tested, is low. However, the report contains some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of European pesticide residue control systems.

In particular, in 2022, 110,829 food samples were collected and examined at the European Union level (the number increased by 25% compared to 2021). The results show that 96.3% of samples were within legal limits. Of the 11,727 samples analyzed under EU coordinated control program (EU MACP),98.4% were within legal limits. The EU MACP program analyzes randomly selected samples of 12 food products. In 2022 these were:

1. apples,
2. strawberry,
3. peaches,
4. wine (red and white),
5. salad greens,
6. cabbage,
7. tomatoes,
8. spinach,
9. oat seeds,
10. barley seeds,
11. cow's milk,
12. lard.

From samples analyzed under the EU-coordinated programme:

• 51.4% (6023 samples) did not contain quantifiable pesticide residues.
• 47% (5,512) contained one or more pesticide residues at concentrations below or equal to permitted levels (known as maximum residue limits or MRLs).
• 1.6% (192) contained pesticide residues exceeding acceptable levels.

Samples of the same basket of products are taken every three years, which shows trends towards increasing or decreasing contamination of specific products. The overall MRL pesticide residue exceedance rate decreased slightly, from 2% in 2019 to 1.6% in 2022.

Compared to 2019 and 2016, the excess rate has decreased for apples, peaches, strawberries, wine and lard; for spinach it has decreased since 2019. In 2022, samples of cow's milk with residues above the MPC, as in 2019 and 2016. Overabundances of cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce, barley and oats have increased.

The results of monitoring programs are a valuable source of information for assessing the exposure of EU consumers to pesticide residues.

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