By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

WASHINGTON D.C. — Slightly more than 98-percent of tested food produced in the United States had safe levels of pesticide residue while nearly 50-percent was totally free of the insect-killing chemicals.

That’s according to the federal Food and Drug Administration in its annual findings on more than 800 food samples from 39 states for one year ending Sept. 30, 2015.

The report also showed 90-percent of food imported into the United States during the same period had safe levels of pesticide residue.

Imports did better, though, in terms of being pesticide-free with 56-percent of the 4,737 samples from 111 countries having no chemicals, according to the report.

The findings are similar to the four previous years when unsafe levels of pesticide residue on domestic-raised food, as an example, ranged from 1.4-2.8 percent while unsafe levels on imported food varied from 7-12 percent, the report said.

Since 1987, FDA has compiled a report on pesticides in food as the enforcement arm of standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bill Freese, a science policy analyst with the Washington D.C.-based Center for Food Safety, said he appreciates the data but is not convinced it’s totally accurate.

He said the amount of food tested is too limited; and since the early 1990s, has noticeably diminished.

“They test way too few samples to really give us an accurate picture of how much pesticide residue is in the food supply,” Freese said.

Also troubling to him is some of the most hazardous pesticides like chlorpyrifos turn up most often in the report.

The Obama administration recommended a ban on chlorpyrifos linked to nervous system damage in children; but after president Trump took office, an order was signed allowing farmers to continue using the pesticide.

“It’s detected a lot in the food supply,” said Freese.

He said neonicotinoids shown in various studies as a contributor to the drop in the bee population is another pesticide turning up most in the foods tested.

Research has also recently shown the chemical derived from nicotine is toxic to bees and humans. “Those are just a few examples of the pesticides most frequently found. I don’t think that’s especially good news really,” Freese said.

He also alleged FDA is not testing for other pesticides like glyphosate, the most commonly used chemical in the United States and an active ingredient in the commercial herbicide Round Up.

Glyphosate has been linked as possibly cancer causing and interfering with the function and production of hormones in humans.

“There should be testing for it,” he said.

In addition to its standard pesticide residue testing, FDA tested for pesticide residues in 17 samples of game meat in response to ongoing testing of game meat in the European Union.

None of the sample taken from bison, elk, rabbit and venison tested positive for pesticide residue, according to the report.