Keeping our Food Safe, Measuring, Monitoring & Assessing Residues

• Two-thirds of our food monitored in the government surveillance programme is free from residues.
• The law prohibits suppliers from circulating produce containing more than a specified amount of residue.
• The specified amount of residue is known as the Maximum Residue Level (MRL).
• The main role of MRLs is to regulate trade in treated food. They indicate that any pesticide was applied to crops or foodstuffs in accordance with the conditions of use set by the UK approval (or equivalent overseas).
• MRLs are set for each pesticide on a wide range of fruit and vegetables, cereals and animal products. They are measured in mg/kg (thousandths of a gram per kilogram of food).
• MRLs help ensure that we ingest only minimal amounts of residues whilst eating food.
• MRLs are not safety limits. They are always set below, often far below, safety limits.
• The safety limit depends on a number of factors. These include the properties of the pesticide, the amount of residue, amount of food being consumed, whether this is being consumed in a single meal or over a longer period and your bodyweight. The short and long term effects of consuming a particular residue can differ. We can work out the likely effects in particular cases.
• The Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF) monitors residues in foodstuffs in the UK .
• PRiF adopts a risk-based approach to monitoring (targeting the foodstuffs most likely to contain residues).
• If monitoring programmes suggest that pesticides are not being applied in accordance with the approved conditions of use we will consider taking enforcement action.

UK monitoring: the Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF)

• In the UK, the Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF) monitors residues in food.
• PRiF's terms of reference are: To advise Ministers, the Chief Executives of the Chemicals Regulation 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.

You can find details in the European Commission's latest report on monitoring activity throughout the Community.

Sharing information: the Rapid Alert System

The European Commission operates a Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). 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.