Food and Drug Administration Pesticide Program. Residues in foods--1987.

A total of 14,492 samples of domestically produced and imported food from 79 countries were analyzed for pesticide residues in 1987. No residues were found in over 50% of the samples. When residues were found, they were usually at low levels and rarely exceeded tolerances. Most violative residues were found in commodities where a tolerance had not been established for a specific pesticide/commodity combination. Less than 1% of the 14,492 samples contained residues that exceeded regulatory limits. These findings are supported by the Total Diet Study data, which show that the dietary intake of pesticide residues is only a small fraction of acceptable limits. The program described in this report continues with modifications designed to place additional emphasis on imports, better target both domestic and imported foods, increased the number of selective surveys to add information on residue occurrence, and expand FDA/state cooperative activities.