FOOD AND HEALTH ESSENTIALS

China updates MRLs for pesticides

The National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of the People’s Republic of China has published a revised version of its standard covering maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides in food as well as methods for testing pesticide residue.

The revised standard, GB 2763-2016, will replace the 2014 edition of the standard when it takes effect on June 18, 2017. The key changes from GB 2763-2014 include the addition of MRLs for nearly 500 additional pesticides, and the introduction of 11 new testing methods, changes to 28 testing methods and the deletion of 10 testing methods.

In addition, the standard now includes as an appendix a list of pesticides which are exempt from any maxium residue limits.

The text (in Chinese) of the NHFPC annoucement regarding the publication of GB 2763-2016 is available here.