Food sold across the EU largely meets strict pesticide safety limits according to a new report but other findings show that residues are present in over 40% of fruit and vegetables.

Compliance with EU limits for pesticide residues “remains high”, according to the report published today (Tuesday, May 5) by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

The figures are based on the results of over 125,000 food samples collected across Europe.

EFSA’s latest report, in line with previous years, maintains that the risk to human health from pesticide residues in food "remains low".

Every year, EU member states, together with Norway and Iceland, collect and report to EFSA thousands of samples from a group of widely consumed foods to provide a representative picture of the EU market.

In 2024, national food safety authorities collected 9,842 samples of aubergines, bananas, broccoli, cultivated fungi, grapefruits, melons, sweet peppers/bell peppers, table grapes, virgin olive oil, wheat grain, bovine fat and chicken eggs.

Of these, 98.8% samples were found to be compliant with EU legislation, a result consistent with the 98.7% recorded in 2021, when the same selection of products was analysed.

No measurable pesticide residues were found in 43.1% of samples, but 54.5% of the samples were also found to have contained one or more residues within maximum residue levels (MRLs).

Residue levels were exceeded in 2.4% of samples, of which 1.2% were confirmed as non‑compliant (meaning they exceeded the MRL after considering measurement uncertainty).

In the case of non-compliance, authorities in the member states take actions proportionate to the associated consumer risk.

National control programmes

Most samples in the report were collected under the Multiannual National Control Programmes (MANCP).

The MANCP complement the EU-coordinated sampling by taking into account factors like the significance of food products in trade or national diets, historically high levels of residues or non-compliance, pesticide usage patterns and the capabilities of national laboratories.

From 86,449 samples, 98.2% were found to be compliant with the EU’s MRLs, a level consistent with previous years, including 98% in 2023 and 97.8% in 2022.

No measurable pesticide residues were found in nearly 60% of these samples (58.4%), and only 38.3% contained one or more residues within MRLs. The limits were exceeded in 3.3% of samples, of which 1.8% were found to be non-compliant.

Import controls

For the first time, EFSA’s report clearly distinguishes findings from samples taken under specific EU regulation for increased import controls. In previous years, these samples were included in the Multiannual National Control Programmes.

These checks are done at EU borders and focus on certain hazards (e.g. pesticides or microbiological contamination), food products and countries, which are identified by member states as requiring closer monitoring.

In these cases, the consignment is stopped at the border until laboratory results become available. The product is placed on the EU market if the laboratory results confirm that the product complies with EU rules.

From 39,433 imported food samples analysed under these checks, 38.3% had no quantifiable residues, and 56.2% had pesticide residues within the legally permitted levels.

Around 5.5% exceeded EU limits, of which 3.6% were non-compliant.

These non-compliant batches were stopped from entering the EU food market.

Concerning

But the Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) also said today that the latest EFSA report means that that "one out of four consumed fruit and vegetables exposes consumers to pesticide cocktails that are not assessed by EFSA".

Martin Dermine, executive director at PAN Europe said: "These results remain concerning as mounting scientific evidence shows that exposure to pesticide residues via food are linked to higher risks of developing chronic diseases such as cancer, and can lead to infertility."

Oranges, table grapes, strawberries and apples remain the most contaminated food items, according to EFSA.

This supports the findings of a recent report by PAN Europe, which tested apples in 13 European countries and discovered that 85% of the samples contained multiple residues.