First Euro food residue results

For the first time, monitoring of pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables has been collected and compared across the European Union. Out of about 41,000 samples from the EU and Norway, 39% contained detectable residues of which 3% were above the maximum residue level (MRL), according to a report by the European Commission. These results were collated from national monitoring programmes of each country, except for France and Austria where no data were available.
    As table 1 shows, residues found varied considerably from country to country. The worst levels were in Finland, Greece, Luxembourg and Spain where 6% of samples exceed the MRL as opposed to the UK where only 0.1% exceeded these levels. The report says it is important to note that the differences in percentage samples exceeding the MRLs between countries can be caused by differences in the monitoring programme rather than differences in the presence of pesticide residues in food.
    In many cases, more than one pesticide residue can be found in a product. This can be of particular concern because of possible additive and synergistic effects. Member states were therefore asked to provide information on the samples with residues of more than one pesticide. Overall, 13% of samples contained residues of more than one pesticides. Residues for more than four different pesticides could be found in about 2% of samples.
    As a result of the survey, EU Consumer Safety commissioner Emma Bonino said: "There must be stronger action across the whole of the EU to control pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables."

Monitoring for pesticide residues in the European Union and Norway Report 1996, published November 1998, http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg24

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 42, December 1998, page 17]