Use of Pesticides

At Waitrose, we take responsibility for our impact on the planet. We work tirelessly to protect and restore nature, creating a more sustainable future for generations to come. We work closely with our own-brand fresh produce growers and recognise the need for crop protection to ensure food is economically produced without compromising yield and quality.

We believe in minimising the use of pesticides to grow our fresh produce and recognise the potential risks involved to human health, the environment and biodiversity from crop protection practices. We set out requirements with our growers to ensure pesticides are used on a rigorous risk-assessed basis.

Our teams across fresh produce, agriculture and sustainable sourcing work closely with our growers to minimise the use of pesticides and embrace integrated pest management techniques.

Crop protection means the management of pests, weeds or diseases in crops so that any damage is minimised to an acceptable level. There are a variety of ways this can be achieved, and they may be cultural, biological or chemical:
 

• Cultural practices of crop protection may include crop rotations, placing nets or covers over crops or ploughing to bury weeds;
• Biological practices may include planting resistant varieties, building up soil health so plants become healthier and more tolerant to pests, encouraging greater biodiversity around farms or using known pest predators in crops to reduce pest numbers (for example, ladybirds predating on greenflies);
• Chemical methods are those which use either natural or artificial chemicals to control pests.
   

In practice, most farms use a combination of methods to protect crops. It’s our ambition to reduce chemical control methods and encourage cultural and biological practices.

Pesticides can be an essential tool in the economic production of food, and Waitrose seeks to promote the responsible use of products that protect crops and mitigate potential health, environmental and biodiversity risks.

Waitrose seeks to minimise the risks of using pesticides within its grower base. We do this by:

• Engaging and supporting our suppliers and growers;
• Sharing best practice across our growing base;
• Understanding which pesticides are in use on our crops;
• Assessing the risk associated with those pesticides and how those risks may be removed or mitigated.

Waitrose’s policy sets out how we manage pesticides in our fruit, vegetables and horticulturalsupply chains.

Waitrose Pesticide Policy.

Waitrose believes in promoting integrated pest management, a system of crop protection involving an ecosystem-based strategy that uses monitoring and a wide range of control measures. We actively encourage our growers to adopt practices that minimise pesticides by using a full range of non-chemical pest control measures. Chemical pesticides should always be the last resort, and we encourage growers to use the most benign chemicals first.

We’re committed to phasing out highly hazardous pesticides, and we have engaged with academics and independent experts to assess all pesticides that could potentially be used on our crops. Depending on a range of metrics, such as potential for harm to human health, the environment, biodiversity or pollinators, many of these pesticides have been either prohibited for use on crops destined for Waitrose or restricted, requiring a pre-use risk assessment. We also monitor certain pesticides of concern with a view to restricting them should new evidence come to light about any harmful effects.
 

These pesticides are listed in our black (prohibited), red (restricted) and amber (monitored) lists.
View the full lists.

We work with an online platform whereby suppliers and growers must submit their proposed pesticides at the start of the season for approval. We review the pesticides submitted against our policies and any legal requirements. We ensure that, for any pesticides of concern, adequate risk mitigation strategies are in place.
 

Our online platform gives us visibility of all pesticides being used on our own-brand fresh produce crops.

Waitrose operates a pesticide residue testing programme, in which samples of fresh produce are taken from our branches for independent laboratory analysis in order to make sure safe and legal levels of residues are maintained. This is in addition to the tests which our suppliers and growers carry out on our behalf. Waitrose has access to these tests via an online platform, and the results are shared with our suppliers and growers.
 

In 2024, we started a programme of independent testing of products at source, in farms and packing facilities across the world. This will increase the number of samples being tested and give us greater visibility of potential issues around our growing areas.

Fresh produce growers supplying Waitrose must comply with certain minimum standards, helping to ensure only safe and responsibly grown fruit and vegetables are supplied to Waitrose.
 

All our UK growers must be accredited to Red Tractor and LEAF Marque standards.
 

All our overseas growers must be accredited to Global Gap and, by the end of 2026, they must also be accredited to LEAF Marque standards.