Monitoring of pesticide residues
Since the 1960s, Denmark has monitored pesticide residues in food, and the latest report presents the analysis of data from the last five years. The report also includes a risk assessment of the total pesticide exposure from food.
The report summarizes 2018-2022 and shows the analysis results from 8,894 samples of various foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, and processed products. A total of 342-344 pesticides were tested for, and the results show the highest number of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables, mainly imported ones. Danish-produced goods have fewer pesticide residues.
No quantifiable levels of pesticide residues were found in 55% of the samples, while pesticide residues below the EU’s permitted limits were found in 43%. Pesticide residues exceeding the limit values were found in 2.0% of the samples.
Total exposure and risk assessment
DTU National Food Institute has calculated the total exposure to pesticide residues in conventionally produced foods, and it is assessed that they generally pose an negligible health risk, even for those who follow the recommended daily intake of 600 grams of fruit and vegetables.
“At the same time, the report shows that by choosing Danish-produced food, consumers can roughly halve their intake of pesticide residues,” says Bodil Hamborg Jensen, senior advisor at DTU National Food Institute.
A risk assessment of the cumulative dietary exposure has been performed by the so-called Hazard Index (HI) method. The assessment includes toxicity data for all the detected pesticides, the average residue levels in the sampled foods and the average amount of the foods consumed.
An HI under 100% indicates that there is no risk of adverse health effects.
An interesting finding in the report is that there has been a decrease in HI since the last period (2012-2017), while pesticide exposure remains the same. This can partly be explained by the fact that the most toxic pesticides are no longer approved in the EU. However, it should be noted that the exposure to some of the more toxic and not approved pesticides are not included in the calculations because an ADI/threshold value is not set, which a given exposure can be compared to.
