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AgVetLink June 2004: Page 6

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RESIDUES

Food Residues Surveillance Programme: Web consultation form

In the October 2003 AgVetLink, we introduced the Food Residue Surveillance Programme (FRSP). The FRSP will be a systematic programme of residue analysis designed to increase our knowledge of levels of agricultural chemical residues in various food commodities. The background to the FRSP project can be found on the NZFSA website, under ‘Science & Technology/Research Projects’.

NZFSA invites your input into two key areas of the FRSP:

• the criteria for ranking which foods are to be prioritised for research, and

• the project’s guiding principles.

Submissions can be made through a web form (available on the NZFSA website from 1 June).

You can also request to be informed when the FRSP section of the site has been updated, and subscribe to NZFSA’s free magazine Food Focus, which will have updates on the FRSP.

Chemical residues

A survey commissioned by NZFSA has revealed a fairly high degree of public concern about chemicals in food. In response to this, the NZFSA communications team is developing a chemical risk communication strategy, which will be based on communications principles such as always publishing material in context and in a way that is readily understood by non-scientific people. NZFSA will also prepare a collection of chemical residue-related resources e.g. the FAQ section on residues on the website.

The 26 April NZFSA press release of the results of chemical residue testing in a wide range of products showed little reason for concern.

However, monitoring will be ongoing and any unexpected findings will be investigated.

Codex Committee on Pesticides Residues

Dave Lunn and Warren Hughes attended the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) meeting held in New Delhi, India, 19 - 24 April 2004. Good progress was made with the routine work of setting Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) – 310 MRLs were finalised and a further 150 were advanced in the Codex procedure.

Discussions about potential dietary intake risks from residues of some acutely toxic pesticides (mostly organophosphates) were ongoing. As progress in developing new risk assessment procedures (based on probabilistic modelling) is likely to be slow, these will be considered for deletion next year.

A meeting of the Friends of Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) was held during the CCPR meeting. It discussed the financial difficulties faced by both the FAO and the WHO panels of this expert technical assessment group, noting that there was still some doubt as to whether the WHO toxicology panel would have the funds to meet in September. Although the pesticide industry (Crop-Life International) is prepared to contribute to a trust fund for JMPR, FAO and WHO are reluctant to accept this funding for public perception reasons. A letter outlining the financial difficulties and the associated implications to the work of Codex will be sent to Ministers and heads of the relevant Ministries in all Codex member countries.

 

MRL update

Approximately every three months NZFSA seeks the Minister’s approval to amend the New Zealand (Maximum Residue Limits of Agricultural Compounds) Food Standards, which are issued under section 11C of the Food Act 1981. These regular updates reflect changing uses of agricultural compounds, and progress in NZFSA’s review of existing uses of agricultural compounds.

Status of Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs):

• as indicated in the December 2003 Agvetlink, the fourth MRL round for 2003 introduced an MRL for doramectin in milk and an exemption of canola oil and 9,10-anthraquinone (when used as a bird repellent on grapes);

• on 5 April 2004 consultation finished on this year’s first MRL round, proposing an exemption for thymol in honey, and an MRL for indoxycarb in lettuce;

• NZFSA is consulting on the second MRL round for 2004. This round proposes new MRLs for tolylfluanid in pomefruit, meloxicam in pig meat, kidney and liver, and further exemptions from MRLs.

 

Last month to update your products