Residue Levels of Pesticides on Fruits for Use in Wildlife Risk Assessments

The guidance document on risk assessment for birds and mammals (GD) provides generic residue values of pesticides on potential diet items for use in wildlife risk assessments. For most diet items, these values are based on a large number of residue studies. However, the default residues per unit dose (RUD; standardized for application of 1 kg substance per hectare) values for fruits were taken from a few literature trials of unclear relevance for regulatory purposes. These trials were conducted according to neither current European Union (EU) agricultural practice nor to recommendations given in the GD about how to conduct wildlife‐relevant residue studies. Therefore, field study data on fruit residue levels from applications of pesticides in fruiting crops were compiled and evaluated. Corresponding studies had been conducted during the last 26 y in the EU. In the final data set, 291 studies provided 1002 residue values in different fruits, including grapes, berries (currants, raspberries, gooseberries), fruits from orchards (apple, peach, pear, lemon, mandarin, orange, apricot, cherry, plum), gourds (pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, melons), and strawberries. This data set provides a basis for revising registration‐relevant RUD values for fruits as potential diet items for birds and mammals in environmental wildlife risk assessments. The objective of this study was to estimate the resulting residue levels in different fruits determined under field conditions following the application of pesticides across their growing areas within the EU in diverse climatic areas that can be used directly in wildlife risk assessments. The large data set of usually about more than 100 residue values per “fruit group,” all evaluated at EU member state level, revealed significantly lower RUDs compared to the current default RUDs presented in the GD. These new RUD values for fruits should be considered for use as default values in future bird and mammal risk assessments and in respective guidance documents. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:552–561. © 2020 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology Chemistry (SETAC)