This presentation describes main pesticide classification and illustrate how to obtain MRL for pesticide residue in EU, Codex alimentarius, USA, and Japan

1. Dr. Sherif Taha
QCAP Egypt
“ ‫الرحمي‬ ‫الرمحن‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫سم‬‫ب‬ ”
Pesticides classification and
maximum residue limits in food

2. CROP LOSS
DOI: E.-C. OERKE, doi:10.1017/S0021859605005708

3. CROP PROTECTION
DOI: E.-C. OERKE,
doi:10.1017/S0021859605005708
 According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
pesticide is an “active ingredient ” prevents, destroys, repels, or mitigates a pest, or is a plant
regulator, defoliant, desiccant, or nitrogen stabilizer.
 Food shortage versus the huge current population is the main driving forces to use pesticides
(increase production yield)in agricultural production.
https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2017_KeyFindings.pdf

4. PESTICIDES
 pesticides have a direct and long-term indirect health impacts, which
result in acute and chronic toxicity, respectively.
 Therefore, all workers that have a direct contact to pesticide
(manufacture, storage, and application) should be with a good
awareness of the dangers of pesticides.
 Application of pesticides on crops shall be under
controlled practices.
 Uncontrolled pesticides practices will not only result in
pesticide-contaminated crops, but also spread
the pesticide contamination risk (soil, water, and air).
https://www.activistpost.com/2012/09/simple-ways-to-avoid-pesticides-in-food.html

5. PESTICIDES CLASSIFICATION BY USE (TARGET AND FUNCTION)
Pesticides
Herbicides Insecticides Fungicides
N N
NCl NHCH2CH3
NHCH(CH3)2
Cl CH
CCl3
Cl
S
(CH3
O)2
PS
CO2
CH2
CH3
CHCH2
CO2
CH2
CH3

6. HERBICIDES/ TRIAZINE
 The most commonly used triazine herbicides are;
atrazine (1) which control annual broad-leaved weeds
and
simazine (2) which control most germinating annual grasses
(1) (2)

7. HERBICIDES/ ARYLOXY PHENOXY
PROPIONATE
 The most commonly used Aryloxy phenoxy propionate herbicides are;
clodinafop-propargyl (3) which control of annual grasses,
and
fluazifop-butyl (4) which control of annual and perennial grass weeds in broad-
leaved crops.

8. HERBICIDES/ DINITROANILINE
 The most commonly used dinitroaniline herbicides are; pendimethalin
(5) which control of most annual grasses and trifluralin (6)
(5)
(6)

9. INSECTICIDES/ ORGANOCHLORINES
 Organochlorines pesticides are organic compounds with five or more
chlorine atoms, they have a long-term residual effect in the environment.
Where, It is resistant to most chemical and microbial degradations.
A well-known example of dichloro diphenyl ethanes organochlorine
insecticides is dichloro-diphenyl trichloro-ethane (pp'-DDT) (7), banned.
Note: DDT may found in contaminated samples by dicofol (8). Where, commercially used dicofol is
usually contaminated by DDT )
(7) (8)

10. INSECTICIDES/ ORGANOPHOSPHORUS
 Unlike organochlorines, organophosphorus insecticides
are easily decomposed in the environment by various
chemical and biological reactions, thus organophosphorus
insecticides are not persistent in the environment.
 The most commonly used organophosphorus insecticides
are; chlorpyrifos (9) and Diazinon (10)
(9)
(10)

11. INSECTICIDES/ CARBAMATE
 Carbamates are cholinesterase inhibitors. Two
examples of carbamate insecticides are; Carbaryl
(11) and oxamyl (12).
(11)
(12)

12. FUNGICIDES / OXATHIIN
 The most commonly used oxathiin fungicide are;
flutolanil (13) which control different pathogens on rice,
cereals, potatoes, sugar beet and on different plants and
Boscalid(Bd,14)
(14)(13)

13. FUNGICIDES / TRIAZOLE
 The most commonly used triazole fungicide are;
Propiconazole (15) which is a systemic foliar
fungicide with a broad range of activity, flusilazole
(16)
(15)
(16)

14. FUNGICIDES / PHENYL PYRROLE & ANILINOPYRIMIDINE
 Fludioxonil(17) and Cyprodinil(18) are commonly
used fungicides as foliar fungicides.
 Note, same sample may be contaminated by both
these fungicides as they are commercially present
together.
(17) (18)

15. PESTICIDES IN LOW INCOME COME
COUNTRIES
P. Schreinemachers, P. Tipraqsa, Agricultural pesticides and land use intensification in high, middle and low income countries, Food Policy 37 (2012) 616-626.

16. PESTICIDES CONTROL
 Pesticides shall be controlled during it synthesis stage till its proper intended application.
 Pesticide control during its manufacturing stage is generally carried out by Environmental
laboratories. Where, It ensure that no (or permitted limits) pesticide residue enter the surrounding
air, water, and soil.
 Other authorities , may Agricultural ones, will control pesticide packaging, labelling, transportation
and storage.
 Laboratories belong to Agricultural department will also ensure that the good agricultural
practices is followed. It also ensure safe food before entering the market.
 Different laboratories, which may belongs to different authorities, are intended to ensure food
safety once it present in the market, for exportation, and for importing.
 All the above laboratories (except those testing labs for pesticide packaging) are carrying out
pesticide residue analysis.

17. PESTICIDES MAXIMUM RESIDUE LIMITS
 Appling pesticides under good agricultural practices (GAP) doesn’t means that
there aren’t residue of used pesticides in such crops.
 Crops at the pre-harvest stage and before reaching shall be free from pesticide
residues or with permitted residue concentrations.
 According to European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Maximum Residue Limits
(MRLs) of pesticides defined as; the upper legal levels of a concentration for
pesticide residues in or on food or feed based on good agricultural practices and
to ensure the lowest possible consumer exposure.
 IN EU, EFSA has determined MRL for more than 1000 pesticides, A
default MRL of 0.01 mg/kg was set for pesticide that not specifically
mentioned in the EU database.

18. MAXIMUM RESIDUE LIMITS (MRLS)
 CXL: are maximum residue limits reported by codex alimentarius
commission
 Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) :are Practices that address
environmental, economic and social sustainability for on-farm
processes and result in safe and quality food and non-food agricultural
products (FAO COAG 2003 GAP paper).
 Acute Reference Dose (ARfD): An estimate of the amount a substance in food and/or
drinking water that can be ingested in a period of 24 h or less without appreciable health risk to the
consumer
 Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) An estimate of the amount of a substance in food or
drinking water that can be consumed over a lifetime without presenting an appreciable risk to health.

19. IMPORTANT TERMS
 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), gives independent scientific
advice to risk managers based on risk assessments to the European
Commission (setting MRLs, Reviewing ARfD, and ADI,..).
 Plant protection products (PPPs): are pesticides that are mainly used
to keep crops healthy and prevent them from being destroyed by
disease and infestation. They include herbicides, fungicides,
insecticides, acaricides, plant growth regulators and repellents (EFSA).
Using PPP is more focusing than using pesticides which may have a
wider application than agricultural one.
 More details about MRLs setting and calculation:

20. IMPORTANT TERMS
 WHO: World health organization
 FAO: Food and agricultural organization of the United Nations
Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues(JMPR): annual
meeting of experts from FAO and WHO, It is requested from Codex
Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO). JMPR consists from WHO Core
Assessment Group (reviewing ADI, ARfD,..) and FAO Panel (estimate
MRL,..)

24. PESTICIDES MAXIMUM RESIDUE LIMITS