EFSA pesticide report reveals safe levels in 96% of food samples

24 Apr 2024 --- The results of the European Union’s last analysis of 110,829 food samples were released this week and showed that 96% fell within legally permitted levels, with only 3.7% exceeding safe levels. The report also shows that the rate by which apples, peaches, strawberries, wine, swine fat and spinach exceed maximum residue levels (MRL) has fallen significantly since 2019.

”The samples collected under the EU-coordinated program are randomly collected, therefore offer harmonized and comparable data which give a statistically representative image of the levels of residues in foods on the market across the European Union,” an EFSA spokesperson tells Food Ingredients First.

The same basket of products is sampled every three years, showing upward or downward trends for the specific commodities. No samples of cow’s milk with residues above the MRL were found in 2022, as in 2019 and 2016. However, exceedances rose for head cabbages, tomatoes, lettuces, barley and oat grain.

The overall rate at which pesticide residues exceeded the MRL decreased slightly from 2% in 2019 to 1.6% in 2022. The monitoring programs’ results are a critical source of information for estimating EU consumers’ dietary exposure to pesticide residues.

“EFSA’s role is to assess the risk linked to pesticide residues in food. Based on its recently published report, EFSA concludes that there is a low risk to consumer health from the estimated exposure to pesticide residues in the foods tested,” the spokesperson says.

Dietary exposure to pesticide residues was estimated and compared with available health‐based guidance values. Risk managers have been advised to increase the effectiveness of European control systems and to ensure a high level of consumer protection throughout the EU.

Dietary exposure EU consumers
EFSA carried out a dietary risk assessment as part of its analysis to assess acute and chronic risks to consumer health. This year, the report extends the probabilistic assessment methodology introduced last year to all pesticides analyzed within the EU-coordinated program. It shows the probability of consumers being exposed to a quantity of residues above a certain safety threshold.

Based on its assessment, the EFSA concludes there is a low risk to consumer health from the estimated exposure to pesticide residues in the tested foods. However, the report makes several recommendations to increase the efficiency of European control systems for pesticide residues.

“EFSA is responsible for several tasks in the area of pesticides. To start with, the EU peer review of risk assessments of active substances used in plant protection products, in close cooperation with EU Member States,” the spokesperson explains. 

“The risk assessment of active substances evaluates whether, when used correctly, these substances are likely to have any direct or indirect harmful effects on human or animal health, for example, through drinking water, food or feed or on groundwater quality. In addition, the environmental risk assessment aims to evaluate the potential impact on non-target organisms.”

The sample featuring apples, strawberries, peaches, wine (red and white), lettuces, head cabbages, tomatoes, spinach, oat grain, barley grain, cow’s milk and swine fat was a quarter bigger than the previous selection.

About 51% (6,023 samples) were free of quantifiable levels of residues, 47% (5,512) contained one or more residues in concentrations below or equal to permitted levels and 2% (192) contained residues exceeding the permitted levels. Roughly 98% of the 11,727 sample subsets were within the legal limits, and 0.9% were non‐compliant.

“Our scientists are further developing new approaches and tools for harmonizing how we assess risks to humans and the environment from combined exposure to multiple chemicals in the food chain — “chemical mixtures” and their effects,” the spokesperson says.

“EFSA has already developed cumulative risk assessments studying the effects of pesticides on the thyroid system, on the nervous system, and on the development of embryos. The production of CRAs of pesticides has intensified with the objective of completing retrospective CRAs for all possible types of cumulative effects on organs and biological functions by the end of 2030.”

National control activities
EFSA’s annual report includes harmonized and comparable data collected under the EU coordinated program and data collected as part of national control activities by individual member states, Norway and Iceland. 

“In 2022, EU Member States plus the two EEA countries Norway and Iceland tested an unprecedented total of 110,829 food samples. That is an increase by one quarter compared to 2021 and shows the strong commitment of reporting countries,” the spokesperson adds.

National control programs are risk-based and provide vital information to risk managers but do not give a statistically representative image of the levels of residues in foods across the EU. Detailed results of all control programs can be found on EFSA’s website via an interactive data visualization tool.

Last month, EFSA flagged in its latest draft opinion that exposure to nitrosamines through food, during its preparation and processing, “raises a health concern.” The authority’s assessment on the public health risk related to the presence of nitrosamines in food, found ten nitrosamines are carcinogenic and genotoxic — meaning they may damage DNA.

In addition, EFSA published urgent recommendations to improve the welfare of farmed broiler chickens and laying hens. The assessments call for widespread improvements for farmed chickens, notably discontinuing cage use and mutilation while providing improved environments.

By Inga de Jong