FDA releases 2021 Pesticide Report

Recently released Pesticide Residue Monitoring Report and Data for 2021 by FDA reveal important trends. During fiscal year 2021, the agency analyzed 1,367 human food samples, including 300 domestic and 1,067 imported samples. FDA found that 96.7% of domestic and 89.3% of imported human foods were compliant with federal standards.

Compliance means that pesticide residues are detected below the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tolerance. No pesticide chemical residues were detected in 35% of the domestic and 44.5% of the imported samples. Fruits, vegetables and grains were the categories tested most frequently.

Cilantro, as well as onion/leek/scallion/shallot commodities, were in violation in both domestic and imported samples. All (100%) of domestic red beets tested were in violation.

Testing was conducted from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Domestic samples were collected in 26 states. Imported samples from 66 countries/economies were tested. Fifteen countries had more than 10 samples taken. The top five are: Mexico (437), Canada (132), China (82), India (39) and Turkey (37). The data doesn’t link commodities with the countries from which they were imported.

FDA testing methods detected 740 pesticides and industrial chemicals. Residues of 172 different pesticides were detected in the samples analyzed. Because imported samples had a higher violation rate than domestic samples, FDA considers those categories with at least 20 samples or a minimum of three violations and a violation rate of 10% or higher to warrant special attention. More than half (7 of 13) of commodities below were flagged in fiscal year 2020.

It’s important to note that some pesticides have an established tolerance, while others have no tolerance, hence the breakdown in the fourth column. Because there are so many pesticides, it’s also possible for a sample to have violations in over tolerance and no-tolerance categories. So, the total number of violations may exceed the number of samples analyzed, as in the case of cilantro.

Import Commodities That May Warrant Special Attention

*Commodities were on the fiscal year 2020 table of import commodities warranting special attention.

One hundred and twenty-seven import commodities had violations. The majority did not make the special attention list. Grains, including wheat and rice products, had six no-tolerance violations. In the fruit category, 4 over tolerance and 25 no-tolerance violations were reported among 14 commodities. Vegetables had 23 over tolerance violations and 61 no-tolerance violations reported among 22 commodities.

Of the domestic grain samples analyzed—corn, rice, soybeans and wheat—there were no violations. Likewise, no fruits tested positive. Although no commodities were targeted for special attention, two commodities exceeded the EPA tolerance. Seven samples had violations in the no-tolerance category.

Domestic Commodities in Violation

The Covid-19 pandemic limited the number of samples collected. Approximately 68% fewer human food samples were collected in fiscal year 2021 compared with fiscal year 2019. The FDA report states that the comparison with fiscal year 2019 is more meaningful as it was pre-pandemic.