Dutch anti-pesticide campaigners have drawn up a new food ranking, based on how many pesticides each product contains.

Top of the Pan-NL list are citrus fruits, with average traces of 4.2 different pesticides, followed by strawberries with 3.7, lettuce with 3.6, cherries with 3.5 and grapes with 3.4. Vegetables, with the exception of lettuce, had far fewer pesticide traces than fruit.

Kiwis and watermelon were the least likely to contain pesticides on the fruit front, while asparagus, beetroot and chicory were bottom of the vegetable ranking.

The ranking is based on spot checks on fruit and veg made by the Dutch food safety board NVWA between 2021 and 2023. The 3,000 plus samples came from supermarkets, wholesalers and distribution centres.

The ranking does not say how much pesticide was found in the products tested, only that it was identified. Pan-NL says 73% of fruit and veg did have traces of one or more pesticide but most volumes were below the permitted level.

However, the campaign group said, some scientists dispute the official maximum levels, particularly for babies and people with vulnerable health conditions. PAN-NL also points out that the health impact of combining different pesticides is not taken into account.

The Dutch government’s healthy eating agency Voedingscentrum said that there is only a small risk to health from consuming pesticides. “And the benefits of fruit and vegetables are major,” the agency said.

Research published by the European Pesticide Action Network last year found that Netherlands and Belgium are more likely than all 25 other EU member states to produce fruit and vegetables that contain PFAS pesticide residues.

The research showed that PFAS pesticides were present in 27% of Dutch and Belgian fruit and veg samples. Next on the list was Austria (25%), followed by Spain (22%) and Portugal (21%).