Food Standards Agency
Sunday 5 July 2009
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Listen to this sitePesticide residues in food and drink in the UK are monitored through an official surveillance programme conducted by the Government's Chemical Regulation Directorate (CRD) and overseen by the independent Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC).
This programme provides a check that pesticide residues are not posing a risk to people's health and that unexpected residues are not present. The programme is mainly directed towards foods where residues are likely or expected. This means that the findings are not representative of the UK food supply as a whole.
The results of the surveillance are published quarterly and annually by the PRC. Pesticide residues were found in 32% of the samples tested in the 2005 surveillance programme. These are overall results: some individual foods showed a higher percentage of samples with residues, some a lower percentage. Although not every pesticide is looked for, all those that are likely to be found are sought, including non-approved pesticides that might have a specific use on a particular crop.
The vast majority (98%) of samples tested between 2000 and 2005 didn't contain residues above legal limits or contain residues of non-approved pesticides. In all cases where the surveillance indicates a potential concern about intakes of pesticides by consumers, a risk assessment is carried out by CRD experts and any necessary follow-up action taken by CRD, overseen by the PRC. The follow-up actions include letters to suppliers, retailers and overseas authorities, special targeted surveys and enforcement surveys. If products have not been consumed, the FSA advises local authorities to prevent affected products from entering the food chain. In almost all cases where a legal limit was exceeded or a non-approved pesticide was found, these did not present an appreciable health risk.
The FSA plays an active role in advising the PRC on surveillance and checking CRD risk assessments of high residue findings, to ensure that consumer interests and food safety are maintained.
The FSA has analysed past trends in commonly-occurring pesticide residues in lettuces and pears. These studies highlight the difficulties in assessing trends over time. There are many reasons for this, such as changes in pest pressure and weather each year. In addition, the European Commission's ongoing review of pesticides gives rise in some cases to changes in the legal maximum residue levels set or the pesticides authorised. These changes can result in pesticide residue monitoring reports showing a different incidence of residues detected or residues occurring above the MRL for individual foods. Use the links below to read the reports.
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(pdf 23KB) Time trend analysis of pesticide residues in pearsDownload pdf
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