How To Find Pesticide Tolerance?
23 10 2007As an importer of frozen vegetables it is our responsibility to help the exporting country with the regulatory laws and in particular the pesticide tolerances for vegetables. Pesticides is the number one problem for frozen vegetable imports. As a general rule pathogens and bacteria are not of concern because the vegetables are blanched for several seconds killing bacteria. However the pesticides are another issue all together.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is responsible for testing and determining the tolerance levels for pesticides. In 1996 congress passed the FQPA (Food Quality and Protection Act) which changed the guidelines for developing tolerances for pesticides. Now they not only look at the pesticide used on the agriculture products in isolation but they also consider the pesticide that may be in the drinking water supply and residential usage of pesticide. Thus they are looking at the total cumulative effect of the pesticide based on their “Risk Cup”. The risk cup is equal to the full amount of pesticide that a person could receive every day for 70 years without significant health risk reduced by some factor to make it child safe.
All this is great and makes me happy that they are looking at the whole picture (or more of the picture) to evaluate risk. This is definitely a step in the right direction.
What I am confused about is that it is based on science and if it is based on science why do some countries have different levels of tolerance or maximum residue limits (MRL). We need to work on the MRL’s on a global basis so that we all win regardless of country that we may live in.
What is more frustrating for me as an importer is the inability to give information to our suppliers abroad. How can we tell them that the product must meet EPA (FDA) guidelines for pesticides if we can’t find the information ourselves? I have spent several hours looking and trying to find the data but without success. If we are going to live in an international society we have to be open and transparent with such basic information. Perhaps the EPA and/or FDA will come to the 21st century and post this information on their websites. Let’s make our world better by working together to provide the safest food possible.
Technorati Tags: Noon International, pesticide, EPA, FDA, FQPA, food quality
