The remains of pesticides in food show the latest data published by EFSA

According to recent report of EFSAʹs, in line with previous years, confirms that the human health risk of pesticide waste remains low, reports the report. Periscope

The EFSA report has analysed data from three control programmes: taking samples co-ordinated by the EU that provide a representative view of the EU market, national controls conducted by authorities, and taking samples regarding increased border controls. Results are available via data visualization tool EPSA- S.

Taking into account EU-coordinated samples

Each year, the EU member states, along with Norway and Iceland, collect and report to the EFSA thousands of samples from a widely consumed food group to offer a representative view of the EU market. The same goods are targeted every three years to track trends over time.

In 2024, national food security authorities collected 9 thousand and 842 samples of eggplants/Pageans, bananas, brocol, cultivated mushrooms, grapefruits, watermelons, sweet /shells, table grapes, virgin olive oil, wheat cereals, beef fat, and chicken eggs.

Of these, 98.8% of samples were found in line with EU legislation, a result in line with 98.7% registered in 2021, when the same product selection was analyzed.

No measurable pesticides were found at 43.1% of samples, while 54.5% contained one or more remains within maximum waste levels (MRL). The MRL values were exceeded at 2.4% of the samples, of which 1.2% were confirmed as non-compliance (which means they exceeded the MRL after considering measurement uncertainty).

In the event of non-compliance, authorities in the Member States take part-time action on the consumer-related risk.

National Control Programs

Most of the samples in the report were collected within the framework of the Multiyear National Control Programmes (MANCP). MANCP completes taking into account factors such as the importance of food products in trade or national diets, historically high waste levels or incompatibility, pesticide use patterns and the capabilities of national labs.

Of 86,449 samples, 98.2% were found in line with the EU's MRL, a level in line with previous years, including 98% in 2023 and 97.8% in 2022.

No measurable remains of pesticides were found at nearly 60% of these samples (58.4%), and only 38.3% contained one or more remains within the MRL. Limits exceeded to 3.3% of the samples, of which 1.8% were found incompatible.

EFSA scientists also praised whether consumers could be exposed to waste levels above security thresholds. The assessment confirms a low consumer health risk of estimated exposure to pesticide wastes in food tested in 2024.

As with the programme of EU-coordinated samples, in case of incompatibility, authorities in the Member States take actions in proportion to the consumer-related risk.

Added import checks

For the first time, the EFSA report clearly distinguishes the findings from samples taken under the EU's specific regulations for increased import checks. In previous years, these samples were included in MANCP. These controls take place at EU borders and focus on certain risks (e.g. pesticides or microbiological contamination, food products and countries identified by the Member States as countries requiring closer monitoring.

In these cases, cargo stops at the border until laboratory results are made available. The product is placed in the EU market if laboratory results confirm that the product is in line with EU regulations.

Of the 39,433 food samples imported under these checks, 38.3% had no measurable waste and 56.2% had pesticide waste within legally permitted levels. About 5.5% exceeded the EU borders, of which 3.6% were incompatible. These non-compliance groups were banned from entering the EU food market. /Periscope