Abstract
This report provides a detailed insight in the official control activities performed by EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. Overall, 97.2% of the 84,341 samples analysed in 2015 were free of quantifiable residues or contained residues within the legally permitted levels. Based on the analytical results provided by the reporting countries, a detailed data analysis was performed regarding pesticide occurrence in the most important food products consumed and the dietary risk related to the exposure of European consumers to pesticide residues. Moreover, the data were analysed with view to identify pesticides and food products that exceeded the legal limits. It also contains the findings on pesticide residues in imported food, organic products, baby food as well as results for animal products. Based on the analysis of the 2015 pesticide monitoring results, EFSA derived a number of recommendations to increase the efficiency of the European control systems to ensure a high level of consumer protection.
Keywords: pesticide residues, food control, monitoring, maximum residue levels, consumer risk assessment, Regulation (EC) No 396/2005
Short abstract
This publication is linked to the following EFSA Supporting Publications article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/sp.efsa.2017.EN-1211/full
Supporting information
Suggested citation: EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) , 2017. The 2015 European Union report on pesticide residues in food. EFSA Journal 2017;15(4):4791, 134 pp. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4791
Requestor: EFSA
Question number: EFSA‐Q‐2014‐00102
Acknowledgements: The Pesticides Unit wishes to thank Florence Gérault (Ministry of Agriculture, France) for her valuable proposals and the independent scientific review of this report.
Endorsed: 7 April 2017
This publication is linked to the following EFSA Supporting Publications article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/sp.efsa.2017.EN-1211/full
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