11/06/2026
What's really in our food?
Today, the ACB published the shocking results of having 43 South African household staple foods—including several wheat and maize products, fresh fruit and vegetables, and food specifically made for babies and young children—tested for pesticides. These laboratory findings were compared against the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of South Africa, Codex Alimentarius, the European Union (EU), and default regulatory benchmarks.
Key findings:
- 86% of products tested contained at least one detectable pesticide residue on the applied analytical panels.
- Multiple residues were common, with 37 different pesticide active ingredients detected across the sample set. One widely consumed tomato sauce contained 14 different residues.
- 13 highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs)—substances internationally recognised for their intrinsic toxicity—were detected in 26 individual instances, including staple foods and foods consumed by children.
- 13 product–pesticide combinations exceeded at least one applicable regulatory maximum residue limit (MRL) or benchmarks, including South African MRLs, EU limits, Codex standards, or the default precautionary level of 0.01 mg/kg.
- Maize meal and wheat products—the backbone of the South African diet—are contaminated with multiple pesticide residues
- Of the nine infant and toddler food products tested, seven contained detectable pesticide residues, including substances that are internationally recognised as HHPs.
Our regulation of pesticides is dismal: crops are assessed in isolation, and thus, there is no assessment of either aggregate exposure (the same pesticide appearing across multiple foods in a single day) or cumulative exposure (different pesticides affecting the same organs or biological systems, such as the nervous system). Yet these results clearly show everyday foods containing multiple pesticide residues, which overlap across a typical day’s meals, compounding exposure with each bite. Children are especially at risk, since they eat more food relative to their body weight and are in critical stages of development.
Furthermore, as the briefing points out, MRLs are not health-based safety thresholds, but regulatory tools primarily designed for compliance and trade monitoring. In some cases, such as Malathion, the South African MRL is up to 160 times higher than the Codex standard, highlighting how existing residue limits prioritise regulatory compliance over meaningful consumer protection.
We call on the Department of Health and Parliament to act urgently on these findings and prioritise protecting children and the public from avoidable pesticide exposure in everyday foods.
To read the briefing paper, view the summary table of results or download the laboratory-certified test results, click here: https://t2m.io/whats-really-in-our-food_webpost
