All members of Worldwide Fruit (WWF) will be harvesting fruit that is virtually residue-free in the upcoming season.

Tony Harding, technical controller of Worldwide Fruit Qualytech, the technical support arm at the UK’s largest top-fruit marketing desk, said: “We hope to be residue-free on all UK top fruit within the next three years. Customer research is telling us that residue levels in food are a priority area. Linked to this is the environmental issue affecting commercial farming and the need to minimise the impact of chemicals on local biodiversity.”

This season, 80 per cent of the samples tested by WWF were residue-free as a result of WWF extending the basic research carried out at East Malling Research from 2000-03.

Martin Luton, who worked on the initial project, and is the technical manager at WWF, said: “Three years of subsequent targeted residue testing and analysis has led to a complete rethink on spraying programmes.”

Qualytech has been able to compile its own list of recommended harvest intervals for the most widely used active ingredients, based on the intelligence it has gathered through the last three years’ residue data. “By analysing growers spray records with the residue data we are confident in our recommendations for achieving a greater percentage of residue-free product in 2008-09,” said Dr Luton.

A larger trial in 2005-06 and 2006-07 on four Kent Gala and Cox farms with encouraging results gave WWF the confidence to extend the programme to a further 10 farms that were programmed to grow the Marks & Spencer UK Gala programme in 2007-08.

Andrew Mellonie, M&S technical manager, said: “We are delighted to be working with forward-thinking UK growers who are able to supply M&S with exceptional-quality English apples and pears, without pesticide residues. This achievement further demonstrates M&S’s commitment to leading the way in pesticide-minimisation strategies.”

The concept has also been taken up in New Zealand under Enza’s Apple Futures Programme covering Gala, Braeburn and Jazz.