Monitoring Residues in the UK and Europe
UK monitoring: the Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC)
- In the UK responsibility for monitoring residues in food rests with the Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC)
- The PRC's terms of reference are "to advise Ministers and the Chief Executives of the Pesticides Safety Directorate and the Food Standards Agency on the planning of surveillance programmes for pesticide residues in the UK food supply and the evaluation of the results; and procedures for sampling, sample processing, new methods of analysis, the assessment of variability of pesticide residues in food and related issues".
- The Committee makes its findings and recommendations available to Government consumers and the food and farming industries in a comprehensive, understandable and timely way.
EU Member State Monitoring
All EU countries monitor residues in foodstuffs.
The best place to start looking for details is on the Commission's website. Here you can see the Commission's reports of monitoring activity throughout the Community.
Sharing information: the Rapid Alert System
The European Commission operates a Rapid Alert System for Food. This provides the Member States with the means of notifying each other of cases where higher than expected residues of pesticides have been found in imported food supplies.
Further Information