The 2009 European Union Report on Pesticide Residues in Food

The report presents the results of the control of pesticide residues in food commodities sampled during the calendar year 2009 in the 27 EU Member States and two EFTA countries (Iceland and Norway). The report also comprises the outcome of the consumer risk assessment of pesticide residues. Finally, the report provides some recommendations aiming to improve future monitoring programmes and enforcement of the European pesticide residue legislation. In total, more than 67,000 samples of nearly 300 different types of food were analysed for pesticide residues by national competent authorities. The total number of analytical determinations reported among all the participating countries amounted to more than 14,000,000. 97.4% of the samples complied with the legal maximum residue levels (MRLs) of pesticides. EFSA concluded that the long-term exposure of consumers did not raise health concerns. The short-term exposure assessment revealed that for 77 food samples analysed the acute reference dose (ARfD) might have been exceeded if the pertinent food was consumed in high amounts.