The EU's food safety agency said Tuesday that the risk to consumers from pesticide residues found in food "remains low" but an activist group accused the watchdog of underestimating the dangers.Following its analysis of samples from across Europe, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said it found pesticide residue in most food sold in the EU.
But it said this exceeded maximum levels in only 2.4 percent of cases.
"The risk to human health from pesticide residues remains low," it said.
Martin Dermine, head of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, a non-governmental group, said the results "remain concerning".
"Mounting scientific evidence shows that exposure to pesticide residues via food are linked to higher risks of developing chronic diseases such as cancer, and can lead to infertility," he said in a statement.
The EFSA report was based on 9,842 samples collected in 2024.
It found that 54.5 percent of samples contained one or more pesticide residues within maximum residue levels.
It said these maximum levels were only exceeded in 2.4 percent of the samples.
Oranges, grapes, strawberries and apples were found to have the highest number of multiple pesticide residues, the report said.
PAN Europe said the EU should "reduce allowable exposure limits" and said some of the pesticides identified were "harmful to the development children's brains".
