The Food and Drug Administration says it has not found illegally high residues of the weedkiller glyphosate in samples of corn, soy, milk or eggs. But informal work by its scientists found residues in an array of commonly consumed food, said the Guardian. The FDA has been testing food for traces of glyphosate for two years and will likely release an official report later this year or in early 2019.
Internal FDA documents obtained by the Guardian showed FDA scientists “had trouble finding any food” that does not contain residues of glyphosate, the major ingredient in Roundup and the most widely used herbicide in the world. An FDA chemist said in an email last year that he tested wheat crackers, granola and corn meal from his home larder “and there’s a fair amount in all of them.”
The FDA tests food annually for pesticide residues as part of enforcing food safety laws. “The fact that the agency only recently started testing for glyphosate, a chemical that has been used for over 40 years in food production, has led to criticism from consumer groups and the Government Accountability Office,” said the Guardian. “Calls for testing grew after the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen in 2015.”
Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, says glyphosate is safe.