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AgVetLink: Number 62, June 2007

Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues – May 2007

Debbie Morris, Dave Lunn and Warren Hughes attended the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) held in Beijing, China between 7 and 12 May 2007. This was the first meeting with the new Chinese Secretariat, who have taken over this committee from The Netherlands. Topics of interest included:

• continued work to revise the Codex Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds and to develop a companion document relating to the selection of representative crops for residue assessment purposes

• estimation of uncertainty of analytical results

• how JMPR (Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues) might be able to use an ‘alternative Good Agricultural Practice’ procedure (for resolving acute dietary intake concerns) and on the proposed options for setting maximum residue limits (MRLs) and/or processing factors for processed foods

• a request for information from countries on national practices in assessing and regulating pesticide residues in subsequent crops and national analytical practices in measuring residues in whole milk and milk fat.

Of particular interest was the paper from the previous Netherlands Chair on the trade implications arising from the lack of national recognition of Codex MRLs for imported food. There was some vigorous debate on the paper and the committee decided to refer it to the Commission for guidance on how to proceed.