EU Council Backs Technical Zero Residue Limits for Hazardous Pesticides in Imported Food

European Union member states have backed a negotiating position that would move certain hazardous pesticide residues in imported food and feed toward technical zero, potentially tightening market access rules for suppliers outside the bloc.

The Council adopted its position on September 30 as part of the remaining Omnibus X food and feed safety package. The measure is not yet final law and still requires negotiations with the European Parliament.

The proposal targets residues from pesticides that can no longer be used in the EU because of particularly hazardous properties, including substances linked to cancer, reproductive toxicity, endocrine disruption or long term environmental harm.

Under the Council mandate, existing maximum residue limits for those substances would be lowered to technical zero after a prior impact assessment.

The Council also broadened the scope to include substances whose conditions of use create unacceptable risks to honeybees or groundwater, extending the potential trade effect beyond the Commission's original list.

The change matters internationally because food produced outside the EU can currently comply with an import tolerance even when a pesticide is no longer approved for use by European farmers. Lowering the permitted residue to technical zero would narrow that gap.

The Council position also keeps the possibility of transition periods for products that complied with previous limits, partly to reduce food waste while the new rules are introduced.

For exporters, the decisive point is that this is now a formal Council negotiating position rather than a completed rule. If enacted, suppliers of fruit, vegetables, grains and other foods would need to ensure that residues of covered pesticides fall at or below the new technical threshold.