India has stringent standards for pesticide residue limits: FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Sunday said India has one of the strictest maximum residue limit (MRL) standards for pesticides in the world. “MRLs for pesticides are set differently for different food commodities based on risk assessment,” the statement said.

ET on Saturday reported that India has raised the maximum level of unregistered pesticides in spices and herbs to 0.1 mg/kg from 0.01 mg/kg on April 8. “The MRL of 0.01 mg/kg applied to pesticides for which the MRL had not been fixed,” the authority said in a statement. “This limit has been increased to 0.1 mg/kg only for spices and is applicable only to those pesticides which are not registered in India by CIB and RC,” he added.

FSSAI said this change has been recommended by the Scientific Panel on Pesticide Residues after considering the adoption of the Codex Alimentarius Commission on Pesticide Residues in Spices for 2021-2023 of MRLs of 0.1 mg/kg and above in a graduated manner for various spices in the world (the MRLs set by the Codex for spices and culinary herbs range from 0.1 to 80 mg/kg). Pesticides are regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA and FW) through the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Board, which regulates the production, import, transportation and storage of pesticides.