Pesticides are commonly used to protect plants against various pests and to preserve crops, but their residues can be harmful for human health. They are the third most widely reported hazard category in the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). The purpose of the study was to identify the most frequently notified pesticides in the RASFF in 1981-2020, considering: year, notification type, product category, origin country, notifying country, notification basis, distribution status and action taken. The data from the RASFF database was processed using: filtering, transposition, pivot tables and then subjected to cluster analysis: joining (tree clustering) and two-way joining methods. Pesticides were most commonly reported in fruits and vegetables and herbs and spices following border controls and rejections. The products usually came from India or Turkey and were not placed on the market or were not distributed and then destroyed. The effectiveness of the European Union border posts in terms of hazards detection and mutual information is important from the point of view of protecting the internal market and ensuring public health. It is also necessary to increase the awareness of pesticide users through training and the activity of control authorities in the use of pesticides.
Keywords: European Union; RASFF; cluster analysis; food safety; pesticide residues.