20 – 25 April 2009

CODEX - Committee on Pesticide Residues (41st Session), Beijing, China

The following are the summary and conclusions of this meeting.

MATTERS FOR ADOPTION BY THE 32 ND SESSION OF THE COMMISSION

The Committee recommended to the Commission:

Adoption of MRLs and other related texts

• Adoption of draft and draft revised MRLs at Step 8, including proposed draft MRLs at Step 5/8, for pesticide/commodity combinations (paras 60-130 and Appendices II and III);
• Adoption of proposed draft MRLs at Step 5 for pesticide/commodity combinations (paras. 60-130 and Appendix IV);
• Adoption of the proposed draft revision of the Codex Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds for eight commodity groups (para. 46 and Appendix IX).

Revocation of MRLs

• Revocation of Codex MRLs for pesticide/commodity combinations (paras 60-130 and Appendix V);

Discontinuation of work

• Discontinuation of work on the establishment of MRLs for pesticide/commodity combinations (paras 60-130 and Appendix VIII).

Approval of new work

• Priority List for the establishment of MRLs for pesticide/commodity combinations (paras 60-130 and Appendix XI);

MATTERS OF INTEREST TO THE COMMISSION

The Committee:

• agreed to retain several draft and proposed draft MRLs at Steps 7 and 4 respectively awaiting for JMPR evaluation (paras 60-130 and Appendix VI);
• agreed to return several draft MRLs to Step 6 for further comments and consideration at its next session (paras 60-130 and Appendix VII);
• agreed to return the proposed draft revision of the Guidelines on the Estimation of Uncertainty of Results for the Determination of Pesticide Residues to Step 3 for circulation for additional comments and consideration at its next session (para. 160 and Appendix X);
• agreed that the Codex Secretariat would prepare a paper containing an analysis of the references to pesticide residues in CODEX STAN 229-1993 and various sections of Volume 2 of the Codex Alimentarius, which had been discontinued for publication, for consideration at its next session (paras 9- 10);
• agreed that the Codex Secretariat would issue a Circular Letter requesting monitoring data for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), falling under the Stockholm Convention and the mandate of the Committee, for commodities for which Codex extraneous maximum residue limits (EMRLs) have been or should be established, for consideration at its next session (paras 15-16);
• agreed that a list of validated analytical methods for the determination of pesticide residues in natural mineral waters would not be developed but maintained as a repository list on the IAEA website and to this purpose, information on such methods would be gathered by means of a Circular Letter to be issued by the Codex Secretariat (para. 21);
• agreed to return the proposed draft Principles and Guidelines for the Selection of Representative Commodities for the Extrapolation of MRLs for Commodity Groups to Step 2 for redrafting, circulation for additional comments and consideration at its next session (para. 155);
• agreed to discontinue the consideration of a pilot project for achieving globally harmonized MRLs through Codex as no consensus could be reached to initiate such a project (para. 176);
• agreed to return the Risk Analysis Principles applied by the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues for further revision, circulation for additional comments and consideration at its next session. The Committee acknowledged that the revision should be finalized by 2010 as the Committee on General Principles would review the consistency of risk analysis principles elaborated by relevant subsidiary bodies of the Commission in 2011 (paras 184-185).
• agreed to continue to identify and address issues related to minor uses and specialty crops; elaborate definitions of these terms for use by CCPR and JMPR; identify priority minor uses and specialty crops for MRLs setting for their inclusion in the Priority List and facilitate their submission to JMPR (para. 215);
• noted the information and conclusion on the evaluation of distribution of pesticide residues after primary process in selected products and agreed that a paper on the use of Kow (n-octanol-water partition coefficient) for the estimation of processing factors would be prepared for consideration at its next session (paras 158 and 216); and
• agreed that there was no need for further elaboration of principles and practices related to the establishment of MRLs for processed foods (para. 222).