Pesticide Residues in Fruits: From Surveillance Data to Risk-Based Interpretation and Mitigation

Background: Interpretation of pesticide residues in fruits requires tight integration of surveillance evidence, analytical capability, regulatory context, and mitigation data. Methods: This critical integrative review synthesises analytical chemistry, cumulative risk assessment (CRA), regulatory divergence, and mitigation evidence, strengthened by quantitative monitoring summaries and auditable regulatory examples. Routine enforcement continues to rely on validated QuEChERS extraction coupled with targeted LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS. High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) adds unique value for metabolites, transformation products (TPs), and incident response, but its routine enforcement role remains constrained by confirmation logic and harmonised validation. Results: Monitoring shows that exposure is typically multi-residue rather than single-compound; the key interpretive challenge therefore shifts toward CRA prioritisation, sensitive-subpopulation assumptions, and transparent distinction between compliance signals and toxicological inference. We provide (i) headline compliance metrics from EU and US programmes, (ii) surveillance-derived high-frequency residue patterns and co-occurrence motifs to guide CRA prioritisation, (iii) an illustrative, traceable comparison of EU/US/Codex MRL divergence for emblematic citrus residues with EU evidence extracts and US/Codex traceability records, and (iv) mitigation evidence statements standardised by study type and transformation-product reporting. Conclusions: Pesticide residues in fruits should be interpreted through a risk-based framework that distinguishes compliance findings from toxicological concern, prioritises relevant multi-residue drivers, and evaluates mitigation according to both residue reduction and transformation-product uncertainty.