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Updated November 10, 2026

What residue testing has found

Government agencies in the U.S. and Canada test food for glyphosate residues. An advocacy group, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), has also paid for its own tests. This page sums up what each one reported, in its own terms, with links to the reports. A "detection" means a lab found a measurable amount. A "tolerance" (U.S.) or "maximum residue limit" (Canada) is the legal limit for a residue in a food. This page lays out the record. ByeGly's position is on the Ban glyphosate page. ByeGly makes no health claims. We do not name products on this page.

Quick terms

  • Tolerance (U.S.). The legal limit for a pesticide residue on a food, set by EPA. FDA says EPA's glyphosate tolerances cover "a wide range of human and animal food crops," "ranging from 0.1 to 400 parts per million (ppm)."1
  • Maximum residue limit, or MRL (Canada). The legal limit set by Health Canada.2
  • ppm and ppb. Parts per million and parts per billion. 1 ppm equals 1,000 ppb.

At a glance

Who tested When What was tested What it reported
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) 2015-2016 3,188 domestic and imported food samples Glyphosate found in 29.7% of samples; 1.3% above Canadian MRLs2
USDA Pesticide Data Program (PDP) 2011 300 soybean samples Glyphosate found in 271 (90.3%); "no samples exceeded" the 20 ppm tolerance3
USDA PDP 2021 418 corn grain samples Glyphosate found in 146 (34.9%); all detections below established tolerances4
USDA PDP 2022 309 corn grain and 608 soybean grain samples Glyphosate found in 73 corn (23.6%) and 558 soybean (91.8%) samples; all detections below established tolerances5
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Fiscal years 2016-2017 879 corn, soybean, milk and egg samples About 59% of corn and soy samples positive for glyphosate and/or glufosinate, "all ... below the tolerance levels"; none in milk or eggs1
EWG (advocacy group) 2018-2019 Oat-based foods it bought Glyphosate detected in most conventional-oat samples, per EWG. EWG compares results to its own benchmark, not a legal limit6789

Each program tested different foods, in different years, with different methods. The numbers are not directly comparable.

Canada: CFIA, 2015-2016

  • What was tested. CFIA added glyphosate to its food surveillance program in 2015. In 2015-2016 it tested 3,188 domestic and imported samples in three programs: fresh and processed fruits and vegetables; a retail survey of grains (barley, buckwheat and quinoa), beverages, and bean, pea, lentil, chickpea and soy products; and infant foods.2
  • What it found. "Glyphosate was found in 29.7% of samples. Glyphosate residues above MRLs were found in only 1.3% of samples." The overall compliance rate with Canadian MRLs was 98.7%.2
  • By category.2
Food type Samples Glyphosate detected Above MRL
Fresh fruits and vegetables 317 7.3% 0%
Processed fruits and vegetables 165 12.1% 0%
Grain products 869 36.6% 3.9%
Juice and other beverages 496 16.3% 0.2%
Bean, pea and lentil products 869 47.4% 0.6%
Soy products 263 11.0% 0%
Infant cereal 82 31.7% 0%
Infant food 127 30.7% 0%
  • CFIA's own framing. CFIA says most samples above Canadian limits "were predominantly associated with grain products." It says the data were evaluated by Health Canada and "no human health concerns were identified." It also notes limits: "Due to the low number of samples and products analyzed, care must be taken when interpreting these results," and samples "were tested as sold."2
  • The limits used. CFIA compared the sum of glyphosate and its breakdown product AMPA to MRLs including 5 ppm for wheat, 10 ppm for barley, 4 ppm for lentils and beans, 5 ppm for peas, 20 ppm for soybeans, and a general limit of 0.1 ppm for products without a specific MRL.2

United States: USDA Pesticide Data Program (PDP)

PDP is run by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. USDA says PDP "provides critical data that can be used by EPA to evaluate exposure"5 and that "The PDP is not designed for enforcement of EPA tolerances."3 We found glyphosate results for these years:

  • 2011, soybeans. "Of the 300 samples tested, 271 (90.3 percent)" had glyphosate, at 0.26 to 18.5 ppm. AMPA was found in 287 (95.7 percent). USDA says: "The tolerance for glyphosate in soybeans is 20 ppm – no samples exceeded that tolerance."3
  • 2021, corn grain. USDA tested 418 corn grain samples. Glyphosate was the most frequently detected residue, "detected in 146 samples (34.9 percent)." USDA says: "All residue detections were lower than the established tolerances for those compounds with established tolerances."4
  • 2022, corn grain and soybean grain. In 309 corn grain samples, glyphosate "was detected in 73 samples (23.6 percent)." In 608 soybean grain samples, it "was detected in 558 samples (91.8 percent)," and AMPA in 317 (52.1 percent). For both, USDA says all residue detections were lower than the established tolerances.5

United States: FDA monitoring, from 2016

  • Why FDA started in 2016. FDA says its usual multi-residue methods "did not work for glyphosate," so it developed a separate method. It began testing in fiscal year 2016.1
  • Fiscal year 2016. FDA tested 274 corn, 267 soybean, 113 milk and 106 egg samples. Glyphosate was found in 173 corn samples (63.1%) and 178 soybean samples (67.0%). FDA says: "No samples contained violative levels of glyphosate or glufosinate; and no residues were found in the milk and egg samples."10
  • Fiscal years 2016-2017 combined. "Of the 879 corn, soybean, milk, and egg assignment samples tested for glyphosate and glufosinate, approximately 59 % of the corn and soy samples tested positive for residues of glyphosate and/or glufosinate, but all were below the tolerance levels set by the U.S. EPA." No residues were found in milk or eggs.1
  • From fiscal year 2018. FDA says it "expanded testing to other foods in FY 2018."1 In its fiscal year 2018 report, FDA lists glyphosate among the pesticides found in human foods, in 111 samples.11 In fiscal year 2019, it lists glyphosate in 70 human food samples.12 These tables count samples where a residue was found; they are not rates.

EWG's oat tests, 2018-2019

EWG is an advocacy group. It paid for these tests itself, and they were not government monitoring.

  • August 2018. EWG reported glyphosate in all but two of 45 samples made with conventionally grown oats, and in about one-third of 16 samples made with organically grown oats.6
  • October 2018. EWG reported glyphosate in all 28 samples of products made with conventionally grown oats, tested by Anresco Laboratories.7
  • 2019. EWG reported glyphosate in all 21 oat-based cereal and snack products it sampled in May 2019.8
  • EWG's benchmark is its own. EWG compares results to a benchmark it set: 0.01 milligrams of glyphosate per day, which it equates to 160 ppb in a 60-gram serving. EWG says its benchmark is "significantly lower than both the Environmental Protection Agency's dietary exposure limit and California's No Significant Risk Level."9 It is not a legal limit. EWG's results above or below 160 ppb are comparisons to its own benchmark, not to EPA tolerances.

How to read these results

  • A detection is not the same as a violation. The agencies above compare results to legal limits and report how many samples were above them.
  • "Not detected" depends on the lab's method and detection limit. It is not the same as zero.
  • None of these reports is about a specific product sold on ByeGly. For how certified products are tested, see Certifications explained.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. U.S. FDA, Questions and Answers on Glyphosate (content current as of March 5, 2024): https://www.fda.gov/food/pesticides/questions-and-answers-glyphosate ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Glyphosate Testing in 2015-2016: https://open-science.canada.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/43569b7d-f44b-4734-98e5-bca71d7f1317/content ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Pesticide Data Program Annual Summary, Calendar Year 2011 (February 2013): https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2011%20PDP%20Annual%20Summary.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Pesticide Data Program Annual Summary, Calendar Year 2021: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2021PDPAnnualSummary.pdf ↩ ↩2

  5. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Pesticide Data Program Annual Summary, Calendar Year 2022: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2022PDPSummary.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. EWG, Breakfast with a dose of Roundup? (August 2018): https://www.ewg.org/research/breakfast-dose-roundup ↩ ↩2

  7. EWG, news release, Roundup for Breakfast, Part 2 (October 2018): https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2018/10/roundup-breakfast-part-2-new-tests-weed-killer-found-all-kids ↩ ↩2

  8. EWG, 2019 oat-based product tests (June 2019): https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/monsanto-weedkiller-still-contaminates-foods-marketed-to-children ↩ ↩2

  9. EWG, How does EWG set a health benchmark for glyphosate exposure? (August 16, 2018): https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/how-does-ewg-set-health-benchmark-glyphosate-exposure ↩ ↩2

  10. U.S. FDA, Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program, Fiscal Year 2016: https://www.fda.gov/media/117088/download ↩

  11. U.S. FDA, Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program Report, Fiscal Year 2018: https://www.fda.gov/media/140802/download ↩

  12. U.S. FDA, Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program Report, Fiscal Year 2019: https://www.fda.gov/media/153142/download ↩