Controls on chemicals in food

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates pesticides in the UK for use in:

• agriculture
• horticulture
• domestic gardening

The HSE regulates pesticides in accordance with national and European requirements and:

• monitors the marketing and use of pesticides
• takes enforcement action where necessary
• provides operational policy advice to government ministers

The HSE aims to ensure that pesticides are safe for people and the environment. They do this by regulation, encouraging best practice and researching into alternative pest control methods. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) works closely with HSE to make sure that consumer safety is prioritised in pesticide regulation and surveillance.

Use of pesticides in the UK must be approved by government ministers and monitored through official programmes.

Find out more about the HSE's work on pesticides.

Pesticide residue levels

Rigorous safety assessments are undertaken to make sure that any pesticide residues in food are not harmful to people. Residues are controlled through a system of statutory Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs).

The MRL is the maximum amount of residue likely to remain in food products when a pesticide has been used correctly. It is expressed as milligrams of residue per kilogram of food product. Before being approved for use, a pesticide must be proven to be completely safe for human consumption at its MRL - and may be safe at much higher levels.

Farmers, importers, distributors and retailers are responsible for ensuring marketed food complies with all statutory MRLs set. National authorities control and enforce the MRLs. Checks entail taking samples, analysing them and identifying the pesticides and respective pesticide levels present.

In the UK, the Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food oversees the surveillance programme for residues in both home produced and imported food. The purpose of this monitoring is to check that:

• no unexpected residues occur in crops
• human dietary intakes of residues in foods are within acceptable levels
• pesticide residues do not exceed the statutory MRL