The safety of pesticides is carefully evaluated before approval. The process of setting acceptable residue levels includes a consideration of the variability in people's response to that chemical by the use of appropriate safety factors.

The routine safety evaluation broadly considers possible effects on the immune system and further more specialised tests may be performed on substances with suspected immunotoxic properties. People who are already sensitised to a chemical from other sources may react to residues of that chemical in food.

There is no published scientific evidence to suggest that exposure to low level residues of pesticides in food increases the prevalence of food allergy or food intolerance. General information on food allergy and food intolerance can be found at the link below.