California's Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) recently released its 2014 report. The agency found that 96 percent of California grown produce met it regulatory standards.
Any produce that fails to meet DPR's standards is investigated and removed from the market. Results from all of the department's 2014 Pesticide Residue Monitoring Samples is below:
- 40.74 percent (1,414 of 3,471 samples) had no detected pesticide residues.
- 52.69 percent (1,829 of 3,471 samples) had one or more detected pesticide residues and all were less than or equal to established tolerances. As in recent years, the majority of these samples had residues at less than 10 percent of the tolerance level.
- 1.07 percent (37 of 3,471 samples) had one or more illegal pesticide residues in excess of established tolerances. A sample with an illegal pesticide residue does not necessarily indicate a potential health concern.
- 5.50 percent (191 of 3,471 samples) had one or more illegal residues of pesticides not approved for use on the commodities analyzed.
"In the past few years, there has been a steady increase in the amount of organically grown produce sold in California. Many consumers buy organic produce because they believe it does not contain pesticide residues. Federal and state laws and regulations concerned with organic produce are enforced in California by the CDFA Organic Program. One organic produce regulation they enforce is: Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 205.671, which states:
“When residue testing detects prohibited substances at levels that are greater than 5 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency’s tolerance for the specific residue detected or unavoidable residual environmental contamination, the agricultural product must not be sold, labeled, or represented as organically produced."
There are some pesticides that are approved for use in organic farming. Residues of those pesticides must be less than or equal to the U.S. EPA established tolerance for the pesticide on the commodity tested.
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