Pesticides in Foods

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Pesticide residues on infant foods and adult foods that infants and children eat are almost always well below tolerances (the highest levels legally allowed) set by the Environmental Protection Agency. This was the conclusion of a recent Food and Drug Administration report based on the agency's monitoring of these types of foods over the last seven years.

The FDA report, "Monitoring of Pesticide Residues in Infant Foods and Adult Foods Eaten by Infants and Children," was published in the May-June 1993 issue of the Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists International.

The authors, consumer safety officer Norma Yess and chemists Ellis Gunderson and Ronald Roy of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, based their findings on food samples from the three approaches FDA uses to monitor pesticides: regulatory, incidence and level, and Total Diet Study.

Through the regulatory approach, FDA checks foods close to the point of production for levels of residues and, if they are violative, considers enforcement action. Incidence and level is a study approach that analyzes selected samples of certain foods. Total Diet Study is an approach that uses data from supermarket shopping.

Of more than 10,000 food samples reported from regulatory monitoring, fewer than 50 were violative. No residues over EPA or FDA action levels were found in samples from the incidence and level studies. In the Total Diet Study, no residues were found in infant formulas, and no residues over FDA or EPA allowed levels were found.

Shared Responsibility

The responsibility for ensuring that residues of pesticides in foods are not present at levels that will pose a danger to health is shared by FDA, EPA, and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Pesticides of concern include insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and other agricultural chemicals.

EPA reviews the scientific data on all pesticide products before they can be registered (or licensed) for use. If a product is intended for use on food crops, EPA also establishes a tolerance.

FDA is responsible for enforcing these tolerances on all foods except meat, poultry, and certain egg products, which are monitored by USDA. In addition, FDA works with EPA to set "action levels" — enforcement guidelines for residues of pesticides, such as DDT, that may remain in the environment after their use is discontinued. The guidelines are set at levels that protect public health.

Regulatory Monitoring

In its regulatory monitoring to enforce EPA-set tolerances, FDA checks foods for pesticide residues as close to production of the commodity as possible — at distributors, at food processors, or, if imported, at entry into the country. If illegal residues are found in domestic samples, FDA can take regulatory action, such as seizure or injunction. For imports, FDA can stop shipments at ports of entry.

The FDA report used data from FDA regulatory monitoring between 1985 and 1991. The authors chose eight foods that infants and children eat in relatively large quantities — apples, bananas, oranges, and pears; apple, grape and orange juices; and milk.

FDA found 50 violative samples, representing only 0.3 percent of domestic products and 0.6 percent of imports reported under the regulatory monitoring approach.

All foods sampled in regulatory monitoring are analyzed unwashed and unpeeled — even bananas. Yess explains that because food processors, and most consumers, wash or peel produce before eating or using it in food products, many of the violative samples reported in the FDA study showed higher residues than the actual amount people are exposed to. Studies have shown that residues of many pesticides can be washed off fresh produce, a good practice for anyone fixing a salad or snacking on grapes (see accompanying article).

Of the 50 violative samples, nearly all were pesticide residues for which there were no tolerances or EPA "approval for use" on the specific food sampled. Since pesticides are registered for specific crops, residues on crops for which the pesticide has not been registered are illegal.

A few samples had residues higher than EPA tolerances or FDA action levels in effect at the time; a number of tolerances were revised between 1985 and 1991. The revisions for daminozide (Alar), for example, reflect that it has not been used in agriculture since 1989.

Some domestic milk samples showed small amounts of chlorinated pesticide residues. The registration for food use for these compounds expired more than 20 years ago, but because they persist in the environment, residues are still found at low levels.

About the Author

www.fda.gov
FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.