Food and Pesticides: Food Safety Through Standards

Farmers rely on pesticides to protect crops from insects, weeds, fungi, and other pests that can damage harvests and reduce food availability. While these products help support agricultural productivity, pesticides can impact food safety. Through a combination of scientific research, regulatory oversight, testing, and standards, pesticides can be developed, evaluated, applied, and monitored in ways that help protect human health, agricultural productivity, and the environment.

What Are Pesticides?

A pesticide is any substance used to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate any organism deemed a pest. Common categories of pesticides include:

Insecticides: Target and kill insects.
Herbicides: Kill or inhibit the growth of unwanted weeds.
Fungicides: Control fungi, blights, and mildews.
Rodenticides: Designed to control mice, rats, and other rodents.
Repellents & Attractants: Repel insects (like bug sprays) or lure pests into traps without necessarily killing them on contact.

ASTM E609-25: Standard Terminology Relating to Pesticides is the foundational standard defining terminology relating to pesticides, assuring consistent language and classification.

Why Are Pesticides Used in Food Production?

Pesticides are used to protect crops throughout the growing season, helping farmers reduce losses and improve food quality. Without pest management tools, insects, diseases, and invasive weeds could significantly reduce agricultural yields and increase food costs.

Pesticide Residue Limits on Food

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pesticides may leave small amounts of residue on food, but strict regulatory limits help ensure these residues remain safe for consumers. Known as tolerances in the United States and maximum residue levels (MRLs) in many other countries, these limits represent the maximum amount of pesticide residue legally permitted to remain on a food product.

How Are Pesticide Residues Monitored?

Several federal agencies work together in the U.S. to monitor pesticide residues in food. The EPA establishes allowable residue limits, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conduct testing and monitoring programs to ensure foods comply with these requirements. Foods found to exceed established tolerances may be subject to enforcement actions and removal from commerce.

EPA Approval Process for Pesticides Used on Food Crops

The EPA approves and regulates pesticides for food crops through risk assessments, tolerance setting, and product registration, driven by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The agency must ensure a “reasonable certainty that no harm will result from aggregate exposure to the pesticide residue” before a pesticide can touch food.

The EPA approval process generally includes EPA scientists evaluating potential exposure from multiple sources, including food, drinking water, and occupational exposure (workers and applicators), while also considering cumulative risks from pesticides with similar modes of action. Special protections are required for infants and children under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), which directs the EPA to apply additional safety factors when necessary. Once approved, pesticide registrations and tolerance levels are subject to ongoing review as new scientific information becomes available.

This rigorous regulatory process helps ensure that pesticides can be used effectively in agriculture while maintaining a high level of protection for consumers and the environment.

Addressing Consumer Concerns About Pesticides in Food

78% of U.S. adults are worried about pesticide use on food crops, showing that American consumers are concerned about long-term impacts to their health from pesticide use. Generally, however, people are likely to be exposed to only very small amounts of a pesticides—too small to pose a risk.

The detection of a pesticide residue does not automatically indicate a health risk. Modern laboratory methods can identify pesticide residues at extremely small concentrations, often far below levels considered harmful. Regulatory agencies continuously review scientific data and reevaluate pesticides to assure safety standards remain protective of public health.

Scientist testing fresh fruits and vegetables for pesticide residues in a food safety laboratory, illustrating regulatory monitoring, laboratory analysis, and consumer protection.

Why Standards Matter for Food Safety

Food safety depends on more than setting regulatory limits; it requires reliable testing methods, consistent terminology, validated laboratory procedures, and effective communication among all stakeholders involved in food production. Food safety standards help assure that food safety decisions are based on sound scientific principles, pesticide testing results are accurate, and the ecosystem is protected.

Standards Supporting Pesticide Safety, Environmental Impacts, and Lab Testing

While regulatory agencies such as the EPA, FDA, and USDA establish pesticide residue limits and oversee food safety programs, standards provide the technical framework that help assure that pesticides are used responsibly and safely.

Food Safety and Traceability

ISO 22000:2018, Food Safety Management Systems — Requirements for Any Organization in the Food Chain provides a framework for identifying and controlling food safety hazards, including risks associated with pesticide residues. By integrating hazard analysis, preventive controls, and continual improvement processes, ISO 22000 helps organizations maintain safe food production from farm to consumer. Additionally, ISO 22005:2007, Traceability in the Feed and Food Chain acts as a tool to map and document the exact history and ingredients, including pesticides, of a food product throughout the supply chain.

Environmental Impacts

ISO 14001:2026, Environmental Management Systems supports organizations in managing the environmental impacts associated with pesticide use, including pollution prevention and responsible chemical handling. In addition to assuring that operations track and respect local and national environmental laws regarding chemical usage restrictions and water protection, ISO 14001 helps companies set measurable goals to reduce total chemical volumes, substitute hazardous formulas with safer alternatives, and/or adopt integrated pest management.

Laboratory Testing of Food Products

ISO/IEC 17025:2017, General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories plays a critical role in assuring laboratories that test food products for pesticide residues produce accurate, reliable, and scientifically valid results. ISO/IEC 17025 strengthens confidence in analytical data by requiring validated test methods, proper equipment calibration, measurement traceability, and demonstrated technical competence of laboratory personnel.

Learn More About Pesticide Standards

Organizations involved in agriculture, food production, testing laboratories, environmental monitoring, and regulatory compliance can access pesticide-related standards through the ANSI Webstore. These standards provide valuable guidance for understanding pesticide terminology, testing methodologies, and industry best practices.

Learn More about Food Safety

You can also learn more about food safety, public health, and nutrition in our blog posts:

Food and Pesticides: Food Safety Through Standards

What Are Pesticides?

Why Are Pesticides Used in Food Production?