The 2009 European Union Report on Pesticide Residues in Food

Abstract 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....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:EFSA Journal
Main Author: European Food Safety Authority
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2430
https://doaj.org/article/8a8bb1e8fdb74a52b238c665702f3e50
Description
Summary:Abstract 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.