How would I go about doing a pesticide risk assessment for bread?
Hi Everyone
I hope you can help me.
I was wondering as to how i would go about doing a pesticide risk assessment for bread?
I have been asked to test for pesticides in our bread products unless a risk assessment can show it is not needed.
Can anyone give any advice?
Regards
Pro-Frink
Hi Pro-Frink ,
Why you do not go for your ingredients , if you make pesticide assessment , no need for testing your finished product , for example if you contact your wheat flour supplier asking for pesticide fee COA , pesticide test , or any evidence that the wheat flour is pesticide free , them you establish a monitoring testing plan according to the supplier history and credibility (for example : each consignment , once/ 3 month ,...... , yearly).
Do your raw material suppliers undertake any analysis?
That might shortcut the question to a large extent - not much point testing the bread if there is already analysis of the flour in place. It might also be possible to obtain results over a period of several years, if you have regular suppliers, in which case you can build up a more detailed picture of the history of actual levels vs. MRLs.
In addition to the suggestions in post #2, you could also consider data from e.g. the EU's annual reports on pesticides in food, in terms of classifying the general likelihood of issues with regard to your specific raw materials. The below is the links for 2016/17/18 as an example. Don't think 2019 has been published yet, but earlier ones are certainly available if you wanted a larger set of data:
https://efsa.onlinel....efsa.2018.5348