Occurrence of pesticide residues in harvested products of various crops from European conventional and organic farming systems

Tourinho, Paula S. (author), Hochmanová, Zuzana (author), Kukučka, Petr (author), Hronová, Martina (author), Glavan, Matjaž (author), Silva, Vera (author), Scheepers, Paul T. J. (author), Hofman, Jakub (author)

The occurrence of 192 pesticide residues was analysed in harvested products from conventional (CF) and organic farms (OF) across European countries, focusing on vineyards, orchards, vegetables, oilseeds, and cereals. Pesticide residues were detected in 85.7 % of CF samples, with 71.4 % having multiple residues, and in 40.0 % of OF samples, with 13.7 % having multiple residues. Total and median concentrations of detected residues were higher in CF than OF samples. The highest total concentration per sample was found in Portugal (214 µg/kg) for CF and Czechia (37 µg/kg) for OF. Fungicide pyrimethanil (290 µg/kg), herbicide glyphosate (192 µg/kg), and insecticide phosmet (177 µg/kg) showed the highest median concentrations in CF. Insecticide cypermethrin had the highest median concentration (88 µg/kg) in OF, while other substances were ≤ 10 µg/kg. OF had a higher proportion of banned substances than CF. In 12.2 % of CF samples and 5.3 % OF samples, the residue levels exceeded maximum residue levels. Our results highlight that the pesticide presence in crops is affected not only by farming systems but also by agricultural practices and crop types. Current risk assessment focuses on single substances and does not account for the exposure to multiple residues. However, our results demonstrated a frequent detection of multiple residues in CF samples.

• Language: English
• Keywords: harvested commodities, conventional farming system, organic farming system, pesticide mixtures, maximum residue level, plant protection products
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 12 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 495, art. 139113
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-170417
• UDC: 632
• ISSN on article: 0304-3894
• COBISS.SI-ID: 241464323
• Publication date in RUL: 04.07.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of hazardous materials
• Shortened title: J. hazard. mater.
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0304-3894
• COBISS.SI-ID: 25748224

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: fitofarmacevtska sredstva, konvencionalno kmetijstvo, organsko kmetijstvo, ostanki pesticidov