Pesticide residues in agricultural crops (2016–2017)

In the years 2016–2017, the Institute of Plant Protection – National Research Institute tested 3019 samples of domestic agricultural products collected from production sites all over the country for pesticide residues as part of official control conducted in Poland. The study included 60 products and 499 compounds. Most of the samples tested were vegetables (44.6%) and fruits (33.3%), the others – cereals (13.2%), oilseeds (4.6%) and legumes (1.9%), sugar plants (2.1%) and spices (0.3%). No residues were found in 61.8 % of the samples. Overall, 99 compounds were found in 38.2% of all samples. Pesticide residues were detected in 55.8% of fruit samples, 33.5% of vegetable samples, 14.9% of cereal samples, 6.9% of legume seed samples, 39.3% of rapeseed samples, 25.8% of sugar plant samples, as well in 77.8% of spice samples. Pesticide residues were often found in samples of caraway (77.8%), apples (70.3%), celeriac (68.1%), peaches and sweet cherries (63.2%), dill (61.9%), currants (61.0%), strawberries (60.4%), cucumbers (59.3%), sour cherries (59.2%), carrots (58.0%), grapes (56.4%), apricots (55.6%), parsley roots (53.6%), gooseberries (52.6%) and pears (50.0%). The most frequently found active substances of plant protection products were dithiocarbamates (9.4%), boscalid (6.7%), acetamiprid (5.3%) and chlorpyrifos (4.9%). The residues of unauthorised plant protection products were found in 9.0% of the sample, while the 1.9% of analysed samples were not compliant with the requirements of the maximum residue levels ( MRLs).