According to the annual monitoring report released by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), pesticides are surprisingly found also in organic food, thus challenging the common view that these products are "pesticide-free".

The report was aimed at analyzing the EU foods compliance with the legal Maximum Residues Levels (MRLs) for pesticides. It resulted that 96% of food samples were below the maximum level, while 4 percent exceeded it. Compared to last year's results, this may be seen as a positive result, as 5% of samples exceeded limits the previous year.

In total, residues of 354 different pesticides were found in measurable quantities in fruit and vegetables, while residues of 72 different pesticides were recorded in cereals.

The report stresses that "in most cases the MRLs are well below the toxicologically acceptable residue levels," adding that "if a residue exceeds the MRL, it is not necessarily true that the consumer is at risk".

The report did not provide conclusions on the reasons for MRL surpluses, saying that reporting countries "should be encouraged to provide more detailed information in the future".

A novelty in this year's report was that, for the first time, countries also provided Europe-wide data on pesticides in organic food.

While conventionally grown cereal, fruit and vegetables tend to exceed pesticide limits more frequently than organic food, the very presence of pesticide residue in the latter could raise eyebrows as these products are usually marketed as pesticide-free.

"It is true that pesticide residues were found on those samples too," said Ian Palombi, a communications officer at EFSA, to EurActiv.com. However, he added that samples of organic fruit and vegetables had a generally lower rate of MRL surpluses (1.24% of all organic samples) in comparison to conventionally grown cereals, fruit and vegetables (3.99% of samples analysed).

The EFSA report underlines that no specific pesticide residue limits for organic products are currently established at EU level at this stage. For these products, the same levels as conventional products therefore apply, the report notes.

In addition, Palombi said that some EU countries were unable to report results for organic food due to "deficiencies in the data management system implemented at national level".