The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a report that investigates the occurrence of 21 active substances frequently present in organic products that are not compliant with organic regulations, and identifies possible reasons for their presence in organic foods.

The 21 active substances included in the report are not naturally occurring, and are not authorized for use in organic production, but have been or are approved for use in plant protection products. Among these chemicals and their transformation products, ten are approved for biocidal use, five have been registered under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals regulation (REACH) for various applications, and five are authorized for veterinary medicinal use. According to EU Organic Farming Information System (OFIS) notifications of suspicions of non-compliance with the organic legislation, between 2021 and 2022, these 21 substances were detected frequently in organic foods.

The active substances investigated in the report are: fosetyl aluminium (fosetyl-Al), glyphosate, cypermethrin, imidacloprid, boscalid, tebuconazole, folpet, pirimiphosmethyl, azoxystrobin, fluopyram, lambda-cyhalothrin, acetamiprid, chlormequat, pendimethalin, spirotetramat, cyprodinil, chloridazon, pyriproxyfen, fludioxonil, difenoconazole, and deltamethrin.

The report focuses only on organic food and feed commodities of plant origin (e.g., produce) and apiculture products.

To identify possible reasons for the active substances’ presence in organic products, the report considered data from EFSA scientific outputs; EU Member State reports; the EU OFIS; pesticides, biocides, veterinary medicines, and chemical occurrence databases; food/feed and environmental monitoring data from the Information Platform for Chemical Monitoring; data from the EU Sustainable Plant Protection Transition project; the industrial emissions portal; and the available literature. The report also integrates inputs from a technical support group comprising experts from the EU Joint Research Center (JRC), European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), European Environmental Agency (EEA), and EFSA.

For each substance, several potential sources of residues were identified, such as the accumulation of residues in soil, the transfer of residues from water sources used for irrigation, and spray drift from conventional crops. Since some of the substances are registered as biocides or veterinary medicines under REACH, these uses may also release residues in the environment that may be transferred from the environment to plants and to food/feed commodities. For example, cross-contamination from treated storage facilities and in laboratories, and drift from weed control applications. Additionally, unauthorized use of substances remains a possibility.

Based on its findings, EFSA recommends several actions when active substances are detected in organic products:

• When residues are quantified in organic products, investigation to confirm or exclude active unauthorized use of the substance is recommended
• When residues are quantified in organic products, to confirm or exclude possible drift from conventional crops in the vicinity of organic crops, investigation of pesticide use around the area of the organic production site is recommended
• When phosphonic acid (a metabolite of fosetyl and phosphonates), boscalid, fluopyram, and difenoconazole are quantified in organic products, analysis of the soil where the plants were grown is recommended
• When glyphosate, boscalid, azoxystrobin, fluopyram, and spirotetramat are quantified in organic products, analysis of the water used to irrigate the plants is recommended.

The full EFSA technical report can be read here.