EFSA 2009 Annual report on pesticide residues - PAN Europe

<strong>2009</strong> EU Report on Pesticide Residues
exceedances concerned samples of infant formulae with residue levels of captan exceeding the legal
limits. Other MRL exceedances in baby food/infant formulae were <strong>report</strong>ed for pirimiphos-methyl,
imazalil, chlorpropham, thiabendazole and diazinon.
At EU level, no specific MRLs for organic products are in place; thus, the MRLs established for
conventionally produced products apply also to this food category. In <strong>2009</strong>, a total of 3,090 samples
of organic origin were taken by a total of 25 countries, which corresponds to 5% of all surveillance
samples taken in the <strong>report</strong>ing countries. For fruit and nuts grown organically, a lower rate of MRL
exceedances (0.4%) was found in comparison to conventionally grown fruit and nuts (2.7%), for
vegetables the MRL exceedances of the samples were 0.5% and 3.4% respectively for organically and
conventionally grown crops. The following substances were found in organic samples, even if their
use was not allowed in organic production: chlormequat, fenbutatin oxide, MCPA and MCPB,
mepiquat, methabenzthiazuron and propamocarb. Also residues of CS 2 - which is an indicator for the
presence of pesticides belonging to the group of the dithiocarbamates - were found. However, since
some crops contain natural compounds which also release CS 2 during the chemical analysis the results
cannot prove beyond doubt that dithiocarbamate pesticides were used.
In <strong>2009</strong>, multiple residues of two or more pesticides in the same sample were found in 25.1% of the
analysed surveillance samples. Important commodities with high frequencies of multiple residues
were citrus fruit (56.6%), table and wine grapes (55.5%) and strawberries (53.8%). 299 unprocessed
surveillance samples were found to exceed two or more MRLs. The commodity with the highest
number of samples with multiple MRL exceedances was peppers (46 out of 1704 samples exceeded
the MRL for two or more pesticides).
The results of the EU-coordinated monitoring programme were used to perform dietary exposure
assessments. In <strong>2009</strong>, the results of the control activities were <strong>report</strong>ed with a new <strong>report</strong>ing format
which allowed improving the accuracy of the consumer exposure calculations in comparison to the
previous year, in particular for the calculation of the long-term consumer exposure.
The chronic (long-term) exposure assessment was based on the residue findings for the food
commodities which are the major constituents of the human diet. <strong>EFSA</strong> concluded that residues found
on these food commodities do not raise health concerns if consumed over a long period.
The assessment of the acute (short-term) consumer exposure was performed for the ten food
commodities which were analysed under the <strong>2009</strong> EU co-ordinated monitoring programme. The
assessment was based on worst-case scenarios, supposing the consumption of a large portion of the
food item under consideration containing the highest residue measured in the coordinated programme.
In order to accommodate for a possible non-homogeneous distribution of residues in an analysed food
lot 7 an additional variability factor was introduced in the calculation. Assuming a coincidence of these
events (high food consumption, high residue concentration and inhomogeneous residue distribution in
a lot), out of 10,553 samples a potential consumer risk could not be excluded for a total of 77 samples
concerning 32 pesticide/commodity combinations. Taking into account the frequency of the
occurrence of the critical residues (in less than 0.1% of the samples tested for the given pesticide/crop
combinations) and the frequency of extreme consumption events, the events leading to a potential risk
were considered very unlikely. The highest potential exceedances of the toxicological reference value
were calculated for carbofuran residues in peppers (14,275% of the ARfD), oxamyl residues in
peppers (9,510% of the ARfD), monocrotophos residues in peppers (7,557% of the ARfD),
7 Acoording to the European legislation on the official control of pesticide residues an analytical sample is composed by at
least five food units, e.g. five cucumbers, ten apples.
<strong>EFSA</strong> Journal 2011;9(11):2430 4