New Zealanders are told our food is safe. We’re told government monitoring programmes test for chemical residues in the foods we eat.
But here’s the truth: when it comes to glyphosate — our most heavily used pesticide — the monitoring simply isn’t happening. That’s not just an oversight. It’s a failure of duty of care. And it sits squarely with the Minister for Food Safety.
The Promise vs. The Reality
On its website, MPI declares that the Food Residues Survey Programme “tests for chemical and microbiological contaminants in foods intended for sale in New Zealand.” It sounds comprehensive. It sounds reassuring.
But look closer: glyphosate isn’t on the list.
Despite being sprayed across our pastures, cereal crops, and even used to dry down wheat before harvest, glyphosate isn’t included in the routine panels. Neither are its breakdown products, like AMPA.
If you’re wondering how glyphosate actually ends up in the food on our shelves, we’ve broken those pathways down clearly in our article: How Glyphosate Gets Into Our Food.
So when the Minister for Food Safety reassures the public that New Zealand has robust systems in place, what exactly is being monitored? Everything but the chemical most likely to show up.
They Knew. Then They Stopped
In 2015/16, MPI tested wheat and peas. The results were eye-opening:
- Glyphosate residues were detected in 26 of 60 wheat samples.
- 20 of those samples exceeded the legal limit.
Instead of expanding the programme, glyphosate quietly disappeared from routine surveillance. To this day, there’s no sign it has been reinstated.
When data shows a problem, the solution should be more monitoring, not less.
A Minister’s Responsibility
This isn’t just about bureaucrats or lab lists. There is a Minister for Food Safety. That role exists to ensure programmes like the FRSP actually protect public health.
Infants, toddlers, school kids — the groups most vulnerable to chemical exposures — deserve protection. Instead, New Zealand’s national food safety monitoring turns a blind eye to the country’s most widely used pesticide.
That’s not just a technical oversight. That’s a failure of duty.
Negligence or Design?
So we ask: is glyphosate’s omission negligence, or design?
- If negligence: the Minister has failed to ensure basic competence in the most critical area of food safety.
- If by design: then the programme has been shaped to avoid inconvenient truths. Either way, the public has been misled.
Time for Accountability
The Minister for Food Safety cannot hide behind MPI’s wording. If the system fails to monitor glyphosate, then the system is failing — and so is the Minister responsible for it.
New Zealanders deserve honest answers, transparent testing, and results that include the chemicals that matter most. Until glyphosate is back on the testing list, any reassurance about food safety is hollow.
Because when a government promises protection but quietly ignores its most obvious threat, that’s not safety — that’s negligence.
Resources & References
MPI – Food Residues Survey Programme (FRSP)
The official webpage describing the programme that “tests for chemical and microbiological contaminants in foods intended for sale in New Zealand.”
MPI – Glyphosate in Food
MPI acknowledges testing peas and wheat in 2015/16, detecting residues in 26 of 60 wheat samples, 20 of which exceeded the MRL.
MPI – 2016 NZ Total Diet Study Report (PDF)
Provides the full outline of chemical residues tested in that year’s flagship programme — glyphosate notably absent.
MPI – 2024 NZTDS (Infants & Toddlers) Project Outline (PDF)
The current infant diet study, testing 362 chemicals across 117 foods — but still no glyphosate, AMPA, or glufosinate.
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/61165-2024-NZTDS-Infants-and-Toddlers-Project-Outline
RNZ Coverage – Glyphosate Submissions
Reporting that MPI stopped testing after finding breaches nearly a decade ago, raising public concern about regulatory transparency.
Image Source & Attribution
The feature image on this page is a screenshot of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) website: Food Residues Survey Programme.
