Open the European Commission’s EU Pesticides Database. The database has no legal value; the official MRL information is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Commission’s analytical-guidance index lists the current quality-control edition.

Detection of pesticides: methods and analytical scope

The main techniques in the DAFM Pesticide Control Laboratory are GC-MS/MS (gas chromatography with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer detector) and LC-MS/MS (high performance liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometer detectors).

Its multi-residue fruit and vegetable method covers about 460 different pesticides and metabolites and detects residues down to 10 nanograms per gram in food. The full suite takes up to 3 days to analyse, and turnaround for samples is normally under 20 working days, with more than 90% of samples turned around inside that time.

Single-residue methods are required for pesticides that are not amenable to multi-residue methods, for example because they need a different extraction, clean-up or analytical column. A general “pesticide analysis” therefore does not cover every substance.

Before you order, tell the laboratory the commodity, the production stage and why you want the test: a routine buyer screen, a check on a named substance, an unexpected earlier result or a known treatment. Name the products you sprayed and ask which of those substances and which crops the proposed service covers, and which need a separate method. Ask for the scope document with the quotation and keep it with the order, so the grower and the buyer both know what was actually commissioned. When you compare quotations, compare like with like: analytes, crop, reporting limit and turnaround. A long headline count of substances does not show whether the one you are worried about is on the list.

Sampling, sample identity and transport

Food samples are taken in accordance with Directive 2002/63/EC or superseding legislation. Where it is impractical to take primary samples randomly within a lot, the method of sampling must be recorded. Samples taken under the Directive are legal, official laboratory samples, representative for the lot or consignment.

Samples must be identified clearly and indelibly, in a way that ensures traceability, and the laboratory allocates each sample a unique code on receipt.

Write the sample reference on the consignment paperwork next to the lot reference, and use the same reference when you book the sample in. If a sample is split, re-packed or given a new number, note it in your traceability records. If the sample represents only part of a batch, say so on the order, and do not later use that result as evidence for every field, harvest date or delivery.

Samples are transported to the laboratory in clean containers and robust packaging. Polythene or polypropylene bags are acceptable for most samples; low-permeability bags (for example nylon film) are used for samples analysed for fumigant residues. Samples of commodities pre-packed for retail sale are not removed from their packaging before transport. Very fragile or perishable products such as ripe raspberries may be frozen and transported in dry ice; samples frozen at collection are transported without thawing.

Rapid transport, preferably within one day, is essential for most fresh products. A sample whose condition does not approximate to that acceptable to a discerning purchaser is unfit for analysis.

Ask the laboratory for its current instructions for your type of sample, and agree packaging, delivery day and any temperature needs before collection. Pass those instructions to whoever dispatches the sample. Note the time and condition of the handover. If the delivery is late or the package is damaged, tell the laboratory and keep its decision on whether it accepted the sample; do not replace that history with the original plan.

Samples not analysed immediately are stored under conditions that minimise decay. Fresh products are kept in the refrigerator, typically no longer than five days. Dried products may be kept at room temperature, but if storage is expected to exceed two weeks they are sub-sampled and stored in the freezer.

Quality-control edition

The current quality-control edition is SANTE/11312/2021 v2026, dated 25 November 2025. It supersedes SANTE/11312/2021 v2 and was implemented by 01/01/2026.

The DAFM Pesticide Control Laboratory carries out analysis as part of DAFM’s monitoring and enforcement programme to protect consumer and environmental safety.

Locate the EU food product and the MRL

The database lets users search a food product (for example oranges) and retrieve the MRLs for all pesticide residues that apply to that product. Apples, blueberries, grapes and other produce each have their own food-product lookup.

Start from the commodity named on the report. If the sample was processed, mixed or otherwise differs from the raw crop, tell the laboratory and whoever interprets the result, and do not match it to the first similarly named crop that a search returns. A saved MRL table for one crop is not a limit sheet for the whole packhouse, so repeat the lookup for each crop.

A second search selects a particular pesticide residue in specific food products and returns the current or historical MRLs that legally apply. Data on MRLs can be downloaded.

Residue definition: parent compound or a sum

Where the residue definition includes more than one analyte, the sum of analytes is calculated as stated in the residue definition and used for checking compliance with the MRL. If a laboratory cannot quantify the full sum, a part of the sum may be calculated, and this must be clearly indicated in the report.

Keep the residue name and its definition beside the commodity and the MRL you used, and save a copy of the lookup with its date. For a past consignment, work from the dates on the original report and check the MRL that applied then, not only today’s value. For a current shipment, repeat the lookup if the limit changes before dispatch and record the new result. If the report gives several components, ask the laboratory how they relate to the residue definition for your crop, and do not add concentrations together yourself.

Reading the result: units, limits, rounding and uncertainty

Results for individual analytes are reported in mg/kg. A residue below the reporting limit (RL) in a quantitative method is reported as <RL mg/kg; where a screening method is used and a pesticide is not detected, the result is reported as <SDL mg/kg.

Results at or above the RL but below 10 mg/kg are rounded to two significant figures; results of 10 mg/kg or more are rounded to three. The RL is rounded to one significant figure below 10 mg/kg and to two at 10 mg/kg or more.

A result is reported with its expanded measurement uncertainty as Result = x ± U (units). The harmonised default expanded uncertainty is 50%, corresponding to a 95% confidence level and a coverage factor of 2.

A sample is non-compliant with the MRL when the measured value minus the uncertainty is above the MRL (x − U > MRL). For an MRL of 1 and a result of 2.2 with U = 50%, x − U = 1.1, which is above the MRL.

Deciding whether a sample exceeds the MRL is generally a problem only when the level is relatively close to the MRL; the decision takes account of concurrent quality-control data, results from replicate test portions and the typical measurement uncertainty.

Ask the laboratory to explain the notation in its report and keep the inequality signs, units and qualifiers exactly as written. A result reported below a limit does not mean the produce contains no pesticide. If a buyer wants an interpretation that the report does not give, find out who is responsible for that decision and send them the original report and scope, not a simplified retyped version.

Buyer schemes

The Bord Bia Sustainable Horticulture Assurance Scheme (SHAS) gives certified members a means to prove to customers that their produce meets quality, hygiene and sustainability demands. Its requirements are based on current legislation, relevant industry guidelines, international standards and established best practice.

Ask the buyer for the scheme or specification that applies to the consignment, and note its edition, product scope and the evidence it asks for. Keep any private buyer threshold labelled as that buyer’s condition, and prepare the comparison with the EU MRL and the comparison with the buyer’s requirement as two separate parts. A customer’s acceptance decision is not the same thing as an enforcement finding. Give the laboratory the buyer’s analytical requirement early, because a late request may need a method outside the service you booked.

If a result is unexpected

Collect the sample reference, lot description, scope and report, and put them next to the real spray and harvest records for that crop; the spray record sheet and pre-harvest interval records show where to find them. Ask the laboratory about sample identity, method coverage and any qualification in the report, and ask the grower separately about what was applied, so a guess about a treatment does not become the explanation before the facts are checked. Keep the original result when you arrange a repeat, and note whether the new report covers retained material or a fresh sample. If you find a transcription error, ask the laboratory for a corrected report and keep it linked to the original; do not edit the PDF yourself.

Before asking anyone to review the result, put together the order, sample reference, laboratory scope, report, dated EU lookup and buyer specification, and say whether the question is about the crop, the residue definition, the date, the analytical coverage or a qualifier. Use the Irish country hub to find the related product and application records.

Pesticide residue on apples, blueberries and vegetables: find the product and its MRL

A search such as apple pesticide residue, blueberry pesticide residue, pesticide residue in vegetables or pesticides for fruits and vegetables is answered in two steps. First find the food product in the EU pesticides database and the maximum residue level for the substance you used. Then compare the result in your lab report with that level, using the units on the report. Pesticide residues examples are the substance lines of a result sheet: each line gives a substance, a measured amount and the limit.

Pesticide residue in soil: half-life and what it means for the next crop

A residue limit applies to food. What stays in the soil is a separate question, and it is described by half-life: the time after which only half of the original amount of a pesticide is left, the rest having been degraded. Every pesticide has its own half-life, and temperature, light and soil acidity change how fast it breaks down. As a rule of thumb, degradation is considered complete after five half-lives.

For your own field this means the product and the conditions decide, not a general figure. Ask the supplier or adviser for the half-life of the product in soil, read the label for any limit on the following crop, and keep the application date in the spray record so you can work out how long ago a product went on.

Next step

Treatment history for the lot is recorded in the spray record sheet and the pre-harvest interval records.