Oct 2, 2018

Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program results released

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Oct. 1 issued the results of its 2016 Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program. The FDA results are consistent with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Data Program report and continue show an exceptional level of compliance by organic and conventional farmers with stringent government standards.

For the pesticides that were tested by FDA in 2016, over 99 percent of the domestic food samples were found to be in compliance with federal pesticide residue standards. No detectable levels of pesticide residues were found in 53 percent of domestic and 50.7 percent of imported food samples analyzed.

As stated in the report:  “The FDA takes very seriously the responsibility it shares with EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep foods free of unsafe levels of pesticide chemical residues. The findings in this report demonstrate that overall levels of pesticide chemical residues measured by the FDA are below EPA’s tolerances, and therefore at levels that are not concerning for public health.”