Over 97% of samples tested in the latest Europe-wide monitoring programme of pesticides in food contain residue levels that fall within permissible limits, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced this week.

EFSA published results as part of its fifth annual report on pesticide residues in food in 27 EU Member States, Norway and Iceland. The report by EFSA's Pesticide Unit is based on the analysis of more than 79,000 food samples carried out by national food authorities in 2011, the last year for which figures are available.

Jose Tarazona, Head of EFSA’s Pesticides Unit, commented, "The European Union report on pesticide residues in food shows that adherence rates remain very high - above 97 percent for the third year in a row. EFSA's role in this programme is a key part of its ongoing work in pesticides to safeguard the health of humans, animals and the environment. It is also important to recognise the significant contribution made by national authorities that collect and analyse tens of thousands of food samples every year."

The national programmes found that 97.5% of the food samples analysed contained pesticide residues that were within EU legal limits – known as maximum residue levels (MRLs). Organic foods showed a lower MRL exceedance rate compared to non-organic products (0.5% versus 2.6%).  The non-compliance rate of food imported into the EU, Norway and Iceland was four times higher than foods originating in these nations (3.7% compared to 0.9%).

53.4% of samples contained no measurable residues at all. Spinach topped the list of crops likely to exceed the MRL threshold with 6.5% of samples showing testing above permissible limits. Beans with pods (4.1%), oranges (2.5%), cucumbers (2.1%) and rice (2%) all tested highly for pesticide exceedence.

Based on the findings of the 2011 monitoring programmes, EFSA concluded there was no long-term risk to consumer health through their diets from 99% of the 171 pesticides assessed. Only two pesticides could potentially pose a risk to consumer health could not be excluded for two pesticides; these substances have been prohibited in the EU since 1979 but continue to be present in the food chain because of their persistence in the environment, the report found.

Following on from last year’s pilot exercise, EFSA again carried out risk assessments to establish whether the potential effects of combined exposure to multiple pesticide residues in individual food samples could lead the some foods exceeding limits. EFSA looked at pears, and found that two samples out of 1,364 (0.15%) contained multiple residues which resulted in a combined exposure above the acceptable level.