FDA Says Pesticide Testing Shows Little Worry for Consumers

Some 99% of domestic and 90% of imported foods tested by FDA in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 were compliant with federal tolerances for pesticides, according to agency's latest residue monitoring report.FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb hailed the findings and said the report shows that overall levels of pesticide chemical residues "don't pose a risk to consumers."For the FY 2016 report, FDA tested 6,494 foods from 46 U.S. states and 98 countries for 711 pesticides and industrial chemicals.Some 52.9% of the domestic and 50.7% of the import samples had no pesticide residues.The violation rates of less than 1% for domestic foods and 10% for imported foods are consistent with past reports, as is the higher rate of violations for imported foods, according to FDA.The 25 domestic samples found in violation included 21 pesticides that don't have an EPA tolerance and four that contained levels in excess of tolerances. Of the 418 import samples in violation, 289 had no tolerance violations and 64 were found to have residues above the EPA standard.The bulk of the import violations were rice and rice products – some 19% of these products were found in violation. Some 10% of imported vegetables sampled were in violation and 7.8% of "other food products" – including nuts, seeds, oils, honey, candy, spices, multi-ingredient products and dietary supplements – had residues in violation of federal standards.