Question

What if no tolerance has been set for a pesticide & the pesticide is not exempt from regulations, but it is found on a food product? How would the FDA classify that food product?

Answer 1

A tolerance or tolerance exemption is required when EPA grants registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for the use of a pesticide in food and feed production in the United States. Registration of a pesticide is not, however, a prerequisite for establishing a tolerance.

EPA (EnvironmentslProtectionAgency) is responsible for regulating the amount of pesticide residues that can remain in or on food or feed commodities as the result of a pesticide application. Tolerance is the maximum residue level of a pesticide (usually measured in parts per million, or ppm) that legally can be present in food or feed.

If residues of a pesticide exceed the established tolerance, or no tolerance has been established, the crop is considered adulterated and may be seized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), or a state enforcement agency.

Foods in interstate commerce containing pesticide residues must be covered by pesticide tolerances.

Tolerances for residues in raw commodities apply to those same residues in processed commodities. If the residues in processed commodities may exceed the residues in the raw commodity, a separate processed food tolerance is needed..

Certain substances or articles are not considered to be used against pests and thus are not pesticides or have been exempted from regulation as pesticides. They include: substances to control bacteria, viruses, or fungi in or on living man or animals; products to control internal invertebrates in living man or animals; products intended only to aid the growth of desirable plants; deodorizers, bleaches, and cleaning agents; products not containing toxicants intended to attract pests for purposes of survey detection; products that operate to exclude pests by a physical barrier; pesticides that are regulated by other federal agencies and are exempted from FIFRA (certain biological control agents and certain human drugs); and certain pesticides or classes of pesticides that are determined to be of a character not requiring FIFRA registration (treated articles and substances, pheromones and pheromone trips, preservatives for biological specimens, foods, natural cedar, and minimum risk pesticides enumerated by regulation).

The following food lists the level at which an enforcement action may be considered when residues of these pesticides are found in a commodity that the cited regulation specifies as having a zero tolerance.

*180.131 Endrin Vegetables0.05 Cottonseed 0.05

*180.139 Perthane Milk 0.2 (fat basis)

*180.169 Carbaryl Grains 0.2

*180.174 Tetradifon Milk 0.4 (fat basis)

*180.190 Diphenylamine Milk

Commodities cited as broad food classes of vegetables and grains are limited to only those specific commodities listed in the regulation as having a zero tolerance.

*FDA action levels for unavoidable pesticide residues in food and feed commodities:

Pesticides Covered :

• Aldrin and Dieldrin
• Benzene and Hexachloride(BHC)
• Chlordane Chlordecone(Kepone)
• DDT, DDE, & TDE
• Dicofol (Kelthane)
• Ethylene Di-Bromide (EDB)
• Heptachlor and Heptachlor Epoxide
• Lindane
• Mirex