Chapter 2 European Union legislation on pesticide residues

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter provides information and clarification about the European Union (EU) legislation on pesticide residues in food and feed. In the EU, the active substances were classified into two categories—existing and new active substances—depending on whether the substance was present in the EU market in 1991, the year in which Directive 91/414 was adopted. Pesticide residues can be found in the food chain because of (1) legal current agriculture practice in which the minimum possible amount of a pesticide is used to achieve effective control of the pest and (2) environmental contamination and other sources of pollution. The chapter discusses the analysis of the pesticide residue. Standardization of the methods of sampling and analyzing is required as a basic principle of good laboratory practice. Several proficiency tests among the laboratories are usually run both by administrative and private bodies to know the level of expertise of the laboratories for certain analytical methods in different pesticide/matrix combinations as well as for accreditation purposes.