THE PROVISION OF A GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND WIDE FOOD SAMPLE COLLECTION AND PURCHASE PROGRAMME FOR PESTICIDE RESIDUES TESTING 2026 ONWARD

As part of its work on pesticides, HSE is responsible for administering an annual programme of pesticides residue testing on food available to consumers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to check that food is safe and meets legal requirements. HSE is responsible for delivering national programmes of monitoring pesticide residues in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland food supply on behalf of DEFRA and DEARA (a part of the NI executive). GB national law and in Northern Ireland under the terms of the Windsor Framework (Regulation 396/2005 and Regulation 2021/1355) requires Great Britain and Northern Ireland to monitor pesticide residues in food. The testing programme must also include the analysis of obligatory named foods for a specific list of pesticides as detailed by the GB co-ordinated multi-annual control plan and the annual EU regulation for a co-ordinated multiannual control programme. The most recent requirements for Northern Ireland and member states for 2026 are set out in Regulation 2024/989. The collection and purchase of retail samples to send to different official laboratories for testing is currently part of these programmes and it is this aspect of the programme that is now being re-tendered for samples collected in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The aim of the programme is to collect samples cross the country as part of different food surveys which may span specific periods of the year or the whole year. Broadly being representative of market share by the key retailers and covering various geographic areas on a rolling basis.