HSE Pesticide Residues in Food Report 2022 - Fruit & Veg results

For the Great Britain survey, the HSE Pesticide Residues in Food Monitoring programme collected 1,506 samples of fruit and vegetables and tested for up to 395 pesticides.

HSE found 16 samples with residues above the MRL in the survey of imported beans with pods. This is consistent with previous years. Some of the beans are subject to additional testing at ports by local authorities and our findings are useful intelligence.

HSE also found 11 MRL exceedances in surveys of spinach. Some of the residues related to findings of chlorate were most likely a result of using chlorinated water to wash bagged salads to maintain hygiene.

Other residues were of isolated findings of different pesticides in imported produce. Suppliers were all informed. HSE reported a small number of instances of residues of prosulfocarb found in surveys of apples.

There were no food safety implications from these residues. We will continue to test apples to see if the situation reoccurs.

In 2022, HSE found no residues above the MRL in samples of apricot, avocado, cucumber, lettuce, strawberries or tomato.

The following results are for all the fruit and vegetables that we tested:

363 samples (24.10%) had none of the residues HSE looked for
1100 samples (73.04%) had residues found at or below the MRL
43 samples (2.86%) had residues above the MRL

The UK Competent Authorities for pesticide residues in food: 2022 annual report is now published here; Competent Authority Report.

The UK 2022 results, brand name details and summary tables will be available at: Pesticide Residues in Food - data.gov.uk.

The Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF) 2023 Annual Report Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF) annual report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This report provides an overview of the work of the committee in 2023 as well as providing details on the members biographies and terms of reference.