Check Your Scope-Service

Introduction

The EURL SRM has developed a pesticide ranking list for fruits and vegetables to assist the decision-making process when it comes to enlarging the scope of pesticides and metabolites targeted in laboratories. The pesticide ranking list is based on a points system which takes into account various aspects indicating the relevance of pesticides such as toxicology, residue findings in food samples, pesticide use, and potential unauthorized use in agriculture. The data used for the pesticide ranking were mainly derived from EFSA, EURL DataPool and Pesticides-Online.

Risk-based Pesticide Priority List

In the points system the following aspects, considered to be contributing to the overall risk-relevance of pesticides, were taken into account:

Toxicological data considering the toxicological end-points (ADI, ARfD) as well as information concerning endocrine disruption activity;
Residue situation in crops considering the frequency of detections in fruits and vegetables reported by various labs in the last years. Additional emphasis is given to residues detected in food in the last two years as well as on RASFF-notification releases;
Agricultural usage data considering pesticide approvals and registrations as far as available. Pesticides with a high potential of unauthorized usage as well as persistent pesticides expected to be encountered in samples via environmental pollution are also taken into consideration.

The current points system is continuously being improved and open to discussion. Any feedback on this issue is welcome.

Pesticide Scope of Labs

During the 2nd Comprehensive Pesticide Lab Survey all official labs within the EU Member States, other EEA countries and the EU candidate countries were asked to indicate their current pesticide scope targeted in different sample types. 188 laboratories reported their pesticide scope routinely targeted in fruits and vegetables. In May 2010 the calculated pesticide ranking list, supporting information and the individual pesticide scope for fruits and vegetables were sent to each participating laboratory.

Check Your Scope-Service

By comparing their pesticide scope with the ranking list, laboratories are able to identify analytical gaps and gain the ability to judiciously adjust their analytical scope in a target-oriented fashion ("Check Your Scope"). As a multitude of data collections containing data that may change with time and that are not comprehensive were used to construct the list, the ranking list is prone to errors and should serve as a starting point and for orientation. The final judgment should always be at the discretion of experts.

Screenshot of the Check Your Scope-list.