Increasing amounts of pesticide residues and PFAS are being found on vegetables and fruits.

Omissions

• Overall compliance with EU maximum residue limits (MRLs) has remained broadly stable at around 98% in recent years (98% in 2023, 98.2% in the latest release), so the increase concerns exceedances and PFAS detections, not a general rise in non-compliant produce.
• EFSA cautions that MRL exceedance rates are affected by changes in sampling methodology, making year-on-year comparisons imprecise; one EFSA release reports the exceedance rate falling (2% in 2019 to 1.6% in 2022) while the 2024 report reports it rising (1.4% in 2018 to 2.4% in 2024).
• The strongest PFAS-trend evidence comes from an advocacy organisation (PAN Europe) analysing official EFSA data, not directly from a primary statistical publication.

Sources

• PrimaryEFSA Journal — The 2024 European Union report on pesticide residues in foodThe overall MRL exceedance rate increased from 1.4% in 2018 (EFSA, 2020c) to 2.1% in 2021 (EFSA, 2023d) and 2.4% in 2024.
• PrimaryEFSA — Pesticide residues in food: latest data releasedFrom 86,449 samples, 98.2% were found to be compliant with the EU's MRLs, a level consistent with previous years, including 98% in 2023 and 97.8...
• PrimaryEFSA — Pesticide residues in food: latest figures releasedThe overall rate at which pesticide residues exceeded the MRL slightly decreased from 2% in 2019 to 1.6% in 2022.
• SecondaryPAN Europe — Toxic Harvest: The rise of forever PFAS pesticides in fruit and vegetables in EuropeFruit and vegetables in Europe are increasingly contaminated with PFAS pesticide residues. This is shown in the analysis of official data... The number of European fruit and vegetables with detected PFAS pesticide residues has nearly tripled between 2011 and 2021, with a growth rate of 220% for fruit and 274% for vegetables.