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Proposals to Amend (No. 2) the New Zealand (Maximum Residue Limits of Agricultural Compounds) Food Standards 2008

Background

MRLs are set out in the New Zealand (Maximum Residue Limits of Agricultural Compounds) Food Standards. The Standards are amended a number of times each year to reflect changes in the use of agricultural compounds in the production of food. The current MRL Food Standards 2008 are on the NZFSA website at: http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/policy-law/legislation/food-standards/index.htm

NZFSA administers the MRL Standards, but the final decision on any changes to the Standards rests with the Minister for Food Safety. Under section 11E of the Food Act, when amending or issuing the MRL Standards, the Minister must take into account the following:

• the need to protect public health

• the desirability of avoiding unnecessary restrictions on trade

• the desirability of maintaining consistency between New Zealand's food standards and those applying internationally

• New Zealand's obligations under any relevant international treaty, agreement, convention, or protocol, and, in particular, under the Australia-New Zealand Joint Food Standards Agreement

• such other matters as the Minister considers appropriate.

The proposed MRLs have been thoroughly assessed in accordance with international methodologies such as those utilised by the expert committees advising the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). Information on the technical assessment of each proposal is included in this document and covers the following:

• rationale

• chemical information

• good agricultural practice (GAP)

• residues information

• dietary risk assessment

• toxicological / public health assessment

• international MRLs.

Possible implications for public health are considered during the toxicological and dietary risk assessments, by comparing the estimated dietary intake with a Potential Daily Exposure (food) (PDEfood) or where there is no PDE_food, by comparing it with the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). PDE_food and ADI are described below.

A PDE_food or Potential Daily Exposure (food), is a value determined by a toxicological evaluation by Environmental Risk Management Authority New Zealand (ERMA NZ) as part of its responsibilities under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (the HSNO Act), which has some responsibility for managing public health.¹ A PDE_food gives the potential daily exposure a person may be subject to from a substance, via food. NZFSA uses a PDE_food, rather than the internationally-determined ADI, where a PDE_food is available, due to the HSNO Act in New Zealand. The ADI and PDE_food are largely equivalent, as they are determined using the same set of toxicology data and in a very similar scientific process.

An ADI or Acceptable Daily Intake is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as: “The daily intake which, during an entire lifetime, appears to be without appreciable risk on the basis of all the known facts at the time”. “Without appreciable risk” has been further defined as: “the practical certainty that injury will not result even after a lifetime of exposure”. ADIs are established by the WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) joint expert committees, made up of toxicologists and residue specialists. The ADI information from these joint committees also feeds into Codex, which sets international MRLs.

¹ The purpose of the HSNO Act 1996 is “to protect the environment, and the health and safety of people and communities, by preventing or managing the adverse effects of hazardous substances and new organisms”.