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AgVetLink February 2005

Conference on Food Safety and Dietary Risk Assessment

Warren Hughes presented a paper at the 3rd International Fresenius Conference on Food Safety and Dietary Risk Assessment held in Mainz, Germany, 13-14 December 2004. The conference provided an opportunity for the ACVM Group to explain the New Zealand regulatory system, especially the MRL process, to European regulators and industry. It also provided an opportunity to keep abreast of developments in the European regulatory environment, particularly management of pesticide residues.

A speech given at the Conference detailed the newly passed Regulation that consolidates and simplifies the four framework directives covering MRLs in the EU. This Regulation:

• defines the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as risk assessor and the Commission as risk manager

• extends the cover of foods to animal feeds

• establishes a default MRL of 0.01mg/kg for non-authorised uses

• provides the ability for member states to recover costs for the MRL setting process

• synchronises with EU procedures for the control of pesticide residues in food and feed

• creates a uniform EU procedure for establishing import tolerances from third countries

• provides the ability to set MRLs based on monitoring data (for exceptional cases, e.g. spices)

• establishes temporary MRLs for active ingredients that are not yet harmonised.

In addition to attending this conference, Warren visited the German regulatory authorities (BBA) to meet key personnel and discuss in some detail the regulatory system in Germany. He also visited the Bayer Cropscience manufacturing site in Dormagen, Germany, which provided an insight into the scale and processes involved in the manufacture of both active ingredients and end-use formulations.