Pesticide residues are exceeding legal limits more often on several widely eaten crops, and imported food is failing border checks at three times the rate of food grown in the EU, according to the EU’s food safety agency.
Most European food is still well within legal limits — overall, around 99 percent of samples passed the European Food Safety Authority’s annual check on pesticide residues, published Tuesday and covering 2024 data. Imported food fared even less well, and the gap is set to fuel an ongoing Brussels debate over how strictly imports are policed.
And while EFSA has stressed that overall risk to consumers is low, it found that sweet peppers failing EU pesticide limits have nearly doubled since 2018. Table grapes and virgin olive oil are heading the same way. Chicken eggs, clean three years ago, are now showing breaches, too.
Imported produce flagged as high-risk at the EU’s border is being rejected at notably higher rates than food grown in Europe, though both shares remain small. Of 39,433 such samples in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, 3.6 percent were rejected outright and never reached shops. Cumin from India; pomegranates and tomatoes from Turkey; and green tea from China and Vietnam led the failures.
