New data out of the European Union (EU) shows that food consumed in that region is still mostly pesticide-free.
A monitoring report published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found that foods tested primarily contain pesticide residues that fall within the region’s legal limits–more than 97% of them, to be exact. Over half (53%) were completely free of quantifiable pesticide residues. These figures are from samples collected across the EU in 2015.
During that year, 84,341 samples were tested for 774 pesticides. Samples included aubergines, bananas, broccoli, butter, eggs, table grapes, orange juice, peas, sweet peppers, virgin olive oil, and wheat.
Broccoli had the highest exceedance rate with 3.4% of samples testing over the legal limits. This was followed by table grapes (1.7%). Virgin olive oil, orange juice, and chicken eggs had the lowest exceedance rates. There were no exceedances recorded for butter.
The testing included the EU Member States, plus Iceland and Norway. Some additional countries that were involved were not reported. Besides the positive numbers reported above, 44% of tested samples contained residues that did not exceed legal limits.
However, not all samples tested flew under the radar. Just over 5% of samples from non-EU countries exceeded legal pesticide limits. This was an improvement from 6.5% reported in 2014. Including the EU, just under 2% of samples were over the legal pesticide limits.
Also,
- 96.5% of foods intended for infants and children were either free of pesticide residue or fell within legal limits.
- 99.3% of organic foods were either free of pesticide residue or fell within legal limits.
- 84.4% of animal products were free of quantifiable pesticide residues.
Source: FoodSafety Magazine
EFSA’s reports and scientific opinions are of great benefit for both, authorities and independent experts in the field of food safety. It would be very useful in the future neighboring countries also to be included in the reporting regarding pesticide residues in food.