Do nano-enabled pesticides reduce food contamination? A residue-oriented framework

Nano-enabled pesticides 1 are increasingly proposed as technologies capable of improving pesticide performance while reducing food contamination. However, whether nanopesticides actually reduce pesticide levels in food remains unclear. Such benefits are often just assumed from better efficacy, higher retention, or lower application rates, rather than proven by direct residue analyses. Current testing strategies rarely evaluate residue accumulation in edible tissues under realistic agricultural conditions, limiting conclusions regarding food safety benefits. In this Perspective, we discuss key limitations in current nanopesticide evaluation and propose a residue-oriented experimental framework to support more realistic and standardized assessments. The framework includes minimum considerations such as agronomically relevant dose reporting, experiments conducted until harvest, residue analysis in edible tissues, dissipation assessments, comparison with conventional formulations, and appropriate analytical procedures. Rather than assuming reduced pesticide accumulation, the proposed framework aims to support experimental approaches capable of testing this hypothesis under realistic agricultural scenarios.