The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released its annual Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program Report for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 2020), which reveals that the levels of pesticide residues measured by FDA in the U.S. food supply are generally in compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) pesticide tolerances. The report summarizes FDA’s findings from its monitoring of pesticide residues in human and animal foods in FY 2020.
The report is based on data that was collected from October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020, during which time FDA tested for approximately 750 different pesticides and selected industrial compounds on 2,078 human food samples (316 domestic and 1,762 imported samples) in its regulatory monitoring program. Agency staff collected domestic human food samples from 35 states and imported human food samples from 79 countries. FDA states that the number of pesticides and industrial compounds analyzed in FY 2020 decreased slightly compared to FY 2019, as compounds that are obsolete or are rarely detected were removed from the agency’s scope.