PARMA, Italy—Data from the recently released European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Annual Report on Pesticide Residues indicates pesticide residues in food are decreasing. In fact, 96.5 percent of the samples analyzed complied with the maximum residue levels (MRLs) of pesticides permitted for food products in the European Union.
More than 70,000 samples of nearly 200 different types of food were analyzed for pesticide residues; the monitoring methods used allow for up to 862 different pesticides to be detected.
According to the report, 3.5 percent of the samples exceed the legal MRL; in 2007, 4.2 percent of pesticides exceeded the legal MRL limits. More pesticide residues exceeding the MRLs were found in food imported from countries outside the European Union (7.6 percent) than in samples originating in the EU (2.4 percent).
Out of 2,062 samples of baby food, 76 contained traces of pesticides and the legal limit was exceeded in only 4 samples (0.2 percent). European legislation allows no more than 0.01 mg/kg of any single pesticide residue.
In organic products, MRLs were exceeded in 0.9 percent of the samples. EU legislation allows only a very limited number of pesticides to be used in organic food production. There are no specific MRLs for organic products; the same MRLs apply as those for conventional products.
To assess consumer risk, EFSA estimated long-term exposure to pesticides from major foods that make up the diet of Europeans and short-term exposure for nine types of crops that were monitored in 2008 as part of the EU coordinated program. For the assessment of long-term exposure, EFSA concluded that none of the evaluated pesticides raised health concerns. For the assessment of the short-term exposure, EFSA assumed that people would eat large portions of foods containing the highest recorded residue levels. Under the worst-case scenario, EFSA said that for 35 pesticide/commodity combinations a potential risk could occur but only in rare cases.
Click here to read the entire annual report.
