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Maximum Residue Levels
The EU’s policy on maximum residue levels (MRLs) sets the highest level of a pesticide residue that is legally tolerated in or on food or feed when pesticides are applied correctly according to Good Agricultural Practice. A maximum residue level is therefore both a food-safety threshold and a regulatory benchmark for pesticide use in the food chain.
Residues found in food must be safe for consumers and must be kept as low as possible. The European Commission fixes MRLs for all food and animal feed, creating a single EU-wide framework. The MRLs applicable to all crops and pesticides can be checked through the MRL database on the Commission website.
The policy is supported by scientific and technical material that helps interpret and apply the MRL framework. This includes EFSA’s report, The 2020 European Union report on pesticide residues in food, as well as work on Chlorate, where current levels in drinking water and foods were found to be too high in EFSA’s scientific opinion, and Cumulative Risk Assessment, which relates to the combined effects of multiple residues. The framework is also supported by the Technical Annex.
This system harmonises and simplifies pesticide residue rules and applies a common EU assessment scheme to all agricultural products intended for food or animal feed. Under Enforcement, the EU complements legal residue limits with control measures such as EU multi-annual control programmes and rules on Non-EU countries’ certification of compliance with EU Maximum Residue Levels for pesticides on food of animal origin.
The system is further supported by Guidelines - Maximum Residue levels, which cover technical guidance, procedural guidance and monitoring information, by Regulation of pesticide residues in the EU - Questions and Answers, which explains the principles for setting MRLs, and by Who does what?, which clarifies the division of responsibilities for risk assessment, setting MRLs, enforcement and control, and non-EU imported crops.
Residues found in food must be safe for consumers and must be kept as low as possible. The European Commission fixes MRLs for all food and animal feed, creating a single EU-wide framework. The MRLs applicable to all crops and pesticides can be checked through the MRL database on the Commission website.
The policy is supported by scientific and technical material that helps interpret and apply the MRL framework. This includes EFSA’s report, The 2020 European Union report on pesticide residues in food, as well as work on Chlorate, where current levels in drinking water and foods were found to be too high in EFSA’s scientific opinion, and Cumulative Risk Assessment, which relates to the combined effects of multiple residues. The framework is also supported by the Technical Annex.
This system harmonises and simplifies pesticide residue rules and applies a common EU assessment scheme to all agricultural products intended for food or animal feed. Under Enforcement, the EU complements legal residue limits with control measures such as EU multi-annual control programmes and rules on Non-EU countries’ certification of compliance with EU Maximum Residue Levels for pesticides on food of animal origin.
The system is further supported by Guidelines - Maximum Residue levels, which cover technical guidance, procedural guidance and monitoring information, by Regulation of pesticide residues in the EU - Questions and Answers, which explains the principles for setting MRLs, and by Who does what?, which clarifies the division of responsibilities for risk assessment, setting MRLs, enforcement and control, and non-EU imported crops.
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