1. Food Alert Atlas
  2. Answers
  3. Rice from Pakistan and India

Why does the EU reject rice from Pakistan and India?

Last checked 18 October 2026. Numbers from the EU RASFF list read on 8 November 2026.

Mostly for pesticide residues above the EU limit, often for substances not approved in the EU, and for mould toxins such as aflatoxins and ochratoxin A. Since 2020, 171 of 308 notifications on rice from Pakistan and 165 of 220 from India named a pesticide residue; 110 and 40 named a mould toxin.

What do the numbers show?

308 notifications on rice from Pakistan since 2020 (9 in 2020, 11 in 2021, 50 in 2022, 57 in 2023, 95 in 2024, 51 in 2025, 35 in 2026 to 8 Nov 2026), 79% of them border rejections. The findings named most often were aflatoxins (100), acetamiprid (46), chlorpyrifos (38) and imidacloprid (32).

220 notifications on rice from India since 2020 (8 in 2020, 10 in 2021, 42 in 2022, 46 in 2023, 49 in 2024, 46 in 2025, 19 in 2026 to 8 Nov 2026), 70% of them border rejections. The findings named most often were tricyclazole (92), thiamethoxam (67), pesticide residues (35) and chlorpyrifos (31).

Across all origins there were 670 notifications on rice in that time. Rice here means notifications in the cereals category whose subject names rice or basmati, and not rice products such as noodles, crackers or flour.

Why are pesticide residues the main problem?

Under Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, food may not carry a pesticide residue above the maximum residue level set for that crop, or above 0.01 mg/kg where no specific level is set. The regulation's recitals say that where a use of a pesticide is not authorised in the EU, its limit should be set at an appropriately low level to protect consumers, so a small residue of a substance used legally in the exporting country can be enough to fail. The substances named most often in rice from these two origins appear in the tables on the pages for cereals from Pakistan and cereals from India.

What are the limits for mould toxins in rice?

Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2023/915 sets 2.0 µg/kg for aflatoxin B1 and 4.0 µg/kg for the sum of four aflatoxins in cereals placed on the market for the final consumer (point 1.1.12), and 5.0 and 10.0 µg/kg for rice that will be sorted or otherwise treated first (point 1.1.13). For ochratoxin A the regulation sets 3.0 µg/kg for cereals placed on the market for the final consumer (point 1.2.10).

Does the EU check rice from these origins more often?

Yes. Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793, in its consolidated text of 30 June 2026, lists rice from Pakistan for increased identity and physical checks on 10% of consignments for aflatoxins and ochratoxin A and on 10% for pesticide residues, and rice from India on 10% for pesticide residues. More checks find more problems, so part of the count may reflect how often the rice is tested.

Is it getting better or worse?

For rice from Pakistan there were 39 notifications in the 365 days to 8 November 2026 against 54 in the 365 days before, down 28%. For rice from India the figures were 27 and 47, down 43%. One year is a short window for a trend, so read these next to the yearly counts above.

Which countries report it?

The countries that notified rice from Pakistan most often were the Netherlands (77), Italy (45), France (39) and Germany (31); for rice from India they were the Netherlands (42), France (41), Germany (33) and Belgium (11). For a border rejection the notifying country is the one where the rice was stopped on entry, so this list says more about where the rice arrives than about who tests hardest.

Is basmati treated differently?

No. The limits apply to rice whatever the variety. Of the notifications counted here, 95 on rice from Pakistan and 74 from India named basmati in the subject.

What can an exporter do?

Test each lot against the EU residue levels for rice, not only the levels of the exporting country; keep the laboratory report with the consignment; and watch the notifications for the same product and origin, because repeated notifications can lead to tighter controls, as the 2020 rules on sesame seeds from India show. This site's Pakistan and India pages list every notification as it is published.

Sources

Last checked 18 October 2026. Numbers on this page are recomputed each time the data is read, last on 8 November 2026.

Related pages

Get these by email

A free weekly digest of new notifications for the products and origins you pick. Or tell us you would pay EUR 29 a month for an email the same day the EU publishes one.

Choose what to watch