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What are the standards for residues of crop protection products?
When chemical crop protection products are used, residue of the used products may remain on the treated crop. A large amount of residue on fruit and vegetable can lead to health risks for consumers. Therefore, legal residue standards for food products have been established to ensure food safety.
Maximum Residue Limit
The legal residue standard is called MRL (Maximum Residue Limit). These values for plant protection products are set at the time they are authorised. These values have been put on an equal footing throughout the EU to facilitate international trade in food (in most cases MRLs differ internationally, take this into account when exporting a product to a country outside Europe!). An overview of the European MRLs for active substances in crop protection products can be found in the EU Pesticides database.
Control of MRL
Authorities randomly check whether horticultural products meet the statutory standards. In this way, they ensure food safety. If the residue of crop protection products in or on a product is too large, the authorities can choose to have the product removed from shops. The first step is to check whether the acceptable daily intake and/or the acute reference dose is exceeded when the product is consumed. If this is the case, authorities can have the product retrieved.
Exceedance of MRL
Moreover, the fact that the MRL is exceeded does not directly mean that the product is harmful to health. The MRL is a very conservative standard with a large safety margin where the recommended daily allowance cannot be achieved by eating one product with an MRL that is too high. The idea behind this is that a 'lover' of the product may not exceed the recommended daily intake if he or she eats more of a product than average. So, if a person consumes one product with an MRL that is too high, he or she will not reach the recommended daily intake.
Reduce pesticide residue
You can reduce the amount of residue of crop protection products by using chemical crop protection products as little as possible and by using (if possible) more biological crop protection products and natural enemies. The amount of residue on a product also reduces when there’s a longer time between the last spraying and the moment of harvesting.
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What are the standards for residues of crop protection products?
When chemical crop protection products are used, residue of the used products may remain on the treated crop. A large amount of residue on fruit and vegetable can lead to health risks for consumers. Therefore, legal residue standards for food products have been established to ensure food safety.
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Maximum Residue Limit
The legal residue standard is called MRL (Maximum Residue Limit). These values for plant protection products are set at the time they are authorised. These values have been put on an equal footing throughout the EU to facilitate international trade in food (in most cases MRLs differ internationally, take this into account when exporting a product to a country outside Europe!). An overview of the European MRLs for active substances in crop protection products can be found in the EU Pesticides database.
Control of MRL
Authorities randomly check whether horticultural products meet the statutory standards. In this way, they ensure food safety. If the residue of crop protection products in or on a product is too large, the authorities can choose to have the product removed from shops. The first step is to check whether the acceptable daily intake and/or the acute reference dose is exceeded when the product is consumed. If this is the case, authorities can have the product retrieved.
Exceedance of MRL
Moreover, the fact that the MRL is exceeded does not directly mean that the product is harmful to health. The MRL is a very conservative standard with a large safety margin where the recommended daily allowance cannot be achieved by eating one product with an MRL that is too high. The idea behind this is that a 'lover' of the product may not exceed the recommended daily intake if he or she eats more of a product than average. So, if a person consumes one product with an MRL that is too high, he or she will not reach the recommended daily intake.
Reduce pesticide residue
You can reduce the amount of residue of crop protection products by using chemical crop protection products as little as possible and by using (if possible) more biological crop protection products and natural enemies. The amount of residue on a product also reduces when there’s a longer time between the last spraying and the moment of harvesting.
Contact form
Can't find your answer? Fill out the contact form and our specialist Jan-Paul de Wit will get back to you. On weekdays, even within 24 hours.
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Tips for working safely with crop protection agents
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In order to be able to safely work with crop protection agents, you should know what you are doing and be informed about the possible risks. For that reason, we will list a number of do's and don’ts for the usage of crop protection agents.
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