India has stringent norms for pesticide residue limits: FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Sunday said India has one of the most stringent standards of maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides in the world. "MRLs of pesticides are fixed differently for different food commodities based on their risk assessments," it said in a statement.

ET on Saturday reported that India has increased the maximum level of unregistered pesticides in spices and herbs to 0.1mg/kg from 0.01 mg/kg on April 8. "The MRL of 0.01 mg/kg was applicable in case of pesticides for which MRLs have not been fixed," the authority said in a statement. "This limit was increased to 0.1 mg/kg only in cases of spices and is applicable only for those pesticides which are not registered in India by CIB & RC," it added.

FSSAI said this revision was recommended by scientific panel on pesticide residues after considering the adoption of MRLs in the range 0.1 mg/kg and above by Codex Alimantarius Commission on Pesticide Residues on spices during 2021-23 in a phased manner for various spices in the world (MRLs fixed by Codex for spices and culinary herbs ranges from 0.1 to 80 mg/kg). Pesticides are regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA & FW) through the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee, which regulates the manufacturing, import, transport, storage of pesticides.