Pesticide Residues in Commercial Date Fruits (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Marketed in Saudi Arabia: A Three-Year Surveillance Study of Compliance Status, Major Violating Pesticides, and Association with Product Origin

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fruits are a leading agricultural product in Saudi Arabia and are commonly obtained at local as well as international levels. Ongoing control and monitoring of pesticide residues (R residues) are crucial in the field of food safety, monitoring of laws and regulations, and competitiveness in the marketplace. This study evaluated pesticide residue occurrence and Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) compliance in commercial date fruits sold in Saudi Arabia during a three-year monitoring period (2020–2022). From retail markets, 3257 date samples were obtained and analyzed by the QuEChERS extraction technique with gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Seventy-seven (2.36%) of the samples analyzed were out of compliance with appropriate MRLs; 97.64% complied with regulatory requirements. The rates of violations varied slightly from year to year and were 2.74%, 2.82% and 1.21% respectively in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The product origin was cited as a significant factor in compliance status. A significantly higher non-compliance rate was observed in imported date samples (17.34%) than in locally produced dates (1.52%). The two most commonly detected pesticides in non-compliant samples were Pyrimethanil (41.6%) and Ethion (35.1%); they represent 76.6% of MRL exceedances. Other exposures were Pyridaben, Fipronil, Bromopropylate, Deltamethrin, Cypermethrin and Triadimenol. The findings give us a high compliance rate for commercial dates under distribution in Saudi Arabia as a whole, but imported products are the main reason for the regulation violations. The overabundance of a limited number of pesticides in non-compliant samples indicates that risk-based surveillance strategies targeting critical compounds may increase monitoring reliability and defend consumer rights. These results offer important scientific evidence supporting pesticide residue management initiatives and food safety surveillance in the Saudi date supply chain.