California Fruits and Vegetables Undergo Residue Testing

Daniel Jacobs Posted by Dan Jacobs|5 November 2015

More than 96% of the fruits and vegetables for sale last year in California met federal pesticide safety standards, according to residue test results performed by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, according to an article posted on Food Safety News.

According to the California DPR, “Both domestically grown and imported fruit and vegetable commodities were sampled. Of the 3,471 samples collected, approximately two-thirds (2,301 samples) were domestic, one-third (1,155 samples) were imported, and 0.4 percent (15 samples) were of undetermined origin. Samples of domestically grown produce included 1,129 samples of 104 different California grown fruit and vegetable commodities.”

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Results for all 2014 Pesticide Residue Monitoring Samples

  • 40.74% (1,414 of 3,471 samples) had no detected pesticide residues.
  • 52.69% (1,829 of 3,471 samples) had one or more detected pesticide residues and all were less than or equal to established tolerances. As in recent years, the majority of these samples had residues at less than 10 percent of the tolerance level.
  • 1.07% (37 of 3,471 samples) had one or more illegal pesticide residues in excess of established tolerances. A sample with an illegal pesticide residue does not necessarily indicate a potential health concern.
  • 5.50% (191 of 3,471 samples) had one or more illegal residues of pesticides not approved for use on the commodities analyzed.

 

Results for the 2014 U.S. Grown Samples

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For all samples of U.S grown produce, 97.5 percent were in compliance with U.S. EPA tolerances (2,244 of 2,301 samples). For those labeled California grown, 96.4 percent were in compliance with U.S. EPA tolerances (1,088 of 1,129 samples).

Read the full California Department of Pesticide Regulation report.

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