2008 Annual Report on Pesticide Residues according to Article 32 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 European Food Safety Authority

The report presents the results of the monitoring of pesticide residues in food commodities sampled during the calendar year 2008 in the 27 EU Member States and two EFTA States (Norway and Iceland). The report also comprises the outcome of the consumer risk assessment of pesticide residues. Finally, the report provides some recommendations aiming to improve future monitoring programmes. In total, more than 70,000 samples of nearly 200 different types of food were analysed for pesticide residues by competent authorities. 96.5% of the samples comply with the legal maximum residue levels (MRLs) of pesticides. EFSA concluded that the long-term exposure of consumers did not raise health concerns. The short-term exposure assessment revealed that for 134 food samples analysed the acute reference dose (ARfD)might have been exceeded if the pertinent food was consumed in high amounts.