In our blogs, we often reference Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safety levels or “tolerances” when discussing residues.  But how are those levels established and what steps are taken to protect consumers?  It’s time to revisit this as we see more groups promoting fear-based messaging and ignoring or dismissing these safety levels.

The Safety Standards section of the safefruitsandveggies.com provides an overall summary of all the laws and regulations governing the approval and use of pesticides used in organic and conventional production.  This section includes how a tolerance is defined:

“Under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, if a pesticide application may result in residues in a food or animal feed product, a tolerance must be set by U.S. EPA based on a finding of reasonable certainty of no harm from the use. A tolerance is a maximum allowable limit.”

But let’s dig in a little deeper. EPA establishes tolerances for each crop use of a pesticide after developing a risk assessment that considers:

• The aggregate, non-occupational exposure from the pesticide (exposure through diet and drinking water and from pesticides used in and around the home).
• The cumulative effects from exposure to pesticides that have a common mechanism of toxicity (that is, two or more pesticide chemicals or other substances that cause a common toxic effect(s).
• Whether there is increased susceptibility to infants and children or other sensitive subpopulations from exposure to the pesticide.
• Whether the pesticide produces an effect in people similar to an effect produced by a naturally occurring estrogen or produces other endocrine disruption-effects.

That’s right –  EPA does look at cumulative exposures and accounts for infants and children, but consumers often hear the exact opposite, which is a key and important example of misinformation commonly perpetuated by those motivated to promote one growing method over another.

Here’s more from EPA about protecting children:

“EPA performs dietary risk assessments to ensure that all tolerances established for each pesticide are safe. These assessments account for the fact that the diets of infants and children may be quite different from those of adults and that they consume more food for their size than adults. We address these differences by combining survey information on food consumption by infants and children with data on pesticide residues to estimate their exposure from food. We also estimate exposure of other age groups such as women of reproductive age, ethnic groups and regional populations.”

“We then combine information about pesticide exposure (from food, drinking water and residential uses) to infants, children and other subgroups with information about toxicity to determine potential risks posed by pesticide residues. If risks are unacceptable, we won’t approve the tolerances.”

Finally, to further protect infants, children and sensitive subpopulations, EPA commonly builds in a 100-fold safety margin when it establishes a tolerance.  This safety margin is based on what is referred to as the No Observed Adverse Effects Level (NOAEL), which is the dose level of a pesticide at which no adverse effects are observed.

How can consumers be assured that safety tolerances are being followed?  Both the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as some state agencies, conduct regular monitoring programs to ensure farmers are in compliance with pesticide laws and regulations and that tolerances are not exceeded.  Both USDA and FDA consistently find an exceptional level of compliance with 99.8% of all foods tested having residue levels well below EPA tolerances.  And, 47% had no detectable residues at all in USDA’s most recent report.

The Alliance for Food and Farming developed a residue calculator, which is based upon an analysis by toxicologists with the University of California’s Personal Chemical Exposure Program who examined USDA’s residue sampling program results.  Their analysis found that a child could eat hundreds to thousands of servings of a fruit or vegetable in a day and still not have any effects from residues.  By learning more about what tolerances are and how they are established provides a better understanding of why these calculator numbers are so impressive and how safe your produce really is.

Photo Credit:  Good Fruit Grower