Jose Tarazona, Head of EFSA's Pesticides Unit, said: “The high compliance rates recorded for 2014 are in line with previous years, which means that the EU is continuing to protect consumers by controlling the presence of pesticide residues in food.

“Our annual report is a major undertaking that is rooted in the data we receive from Member States. It would not be possible without the commitment and expertise of our European partners, and we thank them for their contribution.”

Main findings

• 97% of samples analysed were within legal limits.
• Of these, 53.6% were free of quantifiable residues and 43.4% contained residues that were within permitted concentrations.
• Of the samples originating from EU/EEA countries, 1.6% contained residues exceeding legal limits; the corresponding figure for samples from third countries was 6.5%.
• No quantifiable residues were found in 91.8% of baby food samples.
• 98.8% of organic products were either free of residues or contained residues within legal limits.
• EFSA used data from the report to assess whether current dietary exposure to pesticide residues presents a risk to the health of Europeans in the long term (chronic) or short term (acute). In both cases, the Authority concluded that exposure is unlikely to pose a threat to human health.

See the full article on EFSA's website

Source: efsa.europa.eu