Classification of crops grown in or imported into the European Union for pesticide residue assessment

An important aspect of food safety is the control of pesticide residues on food. Pesticide residue assessments are conducted to establish legal limits, known as maximum residue limits (MRLs), for pesticide residues in plant and animal commodities. In the EC guidelines for pesticide residue assessment, the so-called Lundehn document, agricultural crops are classified into groups in which results are considered to be comparable. Within these groups, the results for one crop may be extrapolated, either to another group or to the crop group as a whole. Because only examples of crops are given per assessment item in the Lundehn document, there is a probability that crops not mentioned in this document will be classified differently by different users of the classification. The classification documented here, however, contains an extended classification for agricultural crops grown in or imported into European Union countries that are either intended for human consumption or for livestock feed. Each crop is classified under relevant items of the pesticide residue assessment process. These are: plant metabolism, crop sampling, supervised residue trials, livestock feed, storage stability of analytical samples, validation of analytical methods and rotational crops