8 November 2005 - The Commission has published a report on Pesticide Monitoring for 2003, with details of the residue monitoring situation in the EU-15 and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The report, which covers data from both national monitoring programmes and from the EU co-ordinated monitoring programme, includes information on the most frequently found pesticides, samples with multiple residues, and evaluation of the co-ordinated EU data by pesticide, by commodity and by country as well as some comparison over previous years.
In 2003, 47 500 samples of fruit, vegetables, cereals and processed products were analysed for pesticide residue levels in the 18 countries included in the report. The tests encompassed up to 519 pesticides. It was found that in 58% of the samples, there were no detectable pesticide residues, while 37% had detectable levels below the EU Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs). In 3.3% of cases, there were confirmed infringements of EU MRLs.
Member States are required, under Directives 86/362/EEC and 90/642/EEC, to carry out regular checks on foodstuffs for compliance with pesticide MRLs. Commission Recommendation 2002/663/EC also advocates that Member States participate in the co-ordinated monitoring programme of the EU, which was set up in 1996. National authorities must report results of their monitoring programmes to the Commission, which then compiles and collates the data on an annual basis.