Year: 2022 | Month: June | Volume 15 | Issue 2
Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) of Pesticides and their Global Significance
Ashish Khandelwal
Ritika Joshi
Manoj Shrivastava
Renu Singh
DOI:10.30954/0974-1712.02.2022.13
Abstract:
Pesticides are a critical input in agriculture and have become a social need since they help to maintain food production and combat vector-borne diseases. In India, pesticide usage is 0.27 kg ha-1, however non-compliance with waiting periods and pre-marketing treatment of food products has resulted in a huge residue problem in food products, which has hampered international trade. MRLs are established based on supervised agronomic field trials and toxicological research with the parent chemical and its primary metabolite. Food commodities are regulated in India by the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) of 1954 (now the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) of 2006), the insecticide act of 1968, and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR), and the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR), among others. Other countries have their own agencies in charge of pesticide regulation and setting MRLs. MRL values for 213 pesticides have been set in India through 2021. The European Union, the United States, and Japan are India’s main agricultural trading partners. Because developed countries are more concerned about food safety, they implement stringent regulatory measures that can operate as trade barriers. As a result, numerous Indian and other developing-country export shipments have been denied. The issues frequently occur as a result of the large variance in food quality requirements that exporters must achieve in home and international markets. Due to a lack of financial resources and knowledge, developing countries are unable to meet these requirements. To lessen the challenges encountered in international trade, appropriate agricultural practises must be promoted, as well as international collaboration on food safety standards harmonisation.
© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Highlights
- Non-compliance with waiting period resulted high residue in food
- Export product must be strictly regulated at farm level
- Awareness program about harmful incidence of pesticide should be regularly conducted
Print This Article Email This Article to Your Friend
