Change of Maximum Residue Level - April 2020 (MRL)

: Published: 14 April 2020

Perchlorate: New maximum levels envisaged from 01.07.2020
Chlorate: Agreement on new EU MRLs

The current draft regulation "SANTE 10126/2019, New" provides for the following maximum levels of perchlorate, which will be regulated within the framework of an amendment to the contaminants regulation EU 1881/2006:

fruit and vegetables: 0.05 mg/kg

The following are excluded

cucurbits/green coal: 0,10 mg/kg
leafy vegetables/fresh herbs: 0,50 mg/kg

The Regulation should enter into force 20 days after publication, with the new maximum permitted levels applying from 1 July 2020.

A transitional regime is foreseen for fruit and vegetables placed on the market before 1 July 2020. They may be sold until the MHD/consumption date.

The German Fruit Trade Association (DFHV eV) and QS (Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH) referred to the results of a joint internal study, according to which perchlorate residues were detected in ten product groups. Leafy vegetables (in 295 of 890 samples) and herbs (in 134 of 251 samples) were particularly conspicuous. If the new regulation had been applied, almost 80% of the samples from the study with detected perchlorate residues would have already exceeded the new limits up to 1.2 times. It must be taken into account that the use of perchlorates as pesticides has been prohibited for a long time and that this almost always involves unintentional environmental contamination, e.g. by mineral fertilizers and watering water.

New maximum residue limits have also been set for chlorate, which will probably be published in June in an amendment to Annex III of EU Regulation 396/2005. The member states agreed on the following maximum residue limits in the final draft regulation (SANTE 10684_2015 Rev.9 Feb 2020)

Code	Product	Chlorate MRL [mg/kg]
0110000	Citrus Fruit	0,05
0120000	Tree Nuts	0,1
0130000	Pome Fruits	0,05
0140000	Stone Fruits	0,05
0150000	Berries and small fruits	0,05
0160000	Miscellaneous fruits	0,3
0160030	Table olives	0,7
0210000	Root and tuber vegetables	0,05
0213000	Other root and tubervegetables except sugar beet	0,15
0220000	Bulb vegetables	0,5
0220010	Garlic	0,7
0220990	Others	0,05
0230000	Fruiting vegetables	0,1
0231020	Peppers	0,3
0231020	Chilli peppers	0,3
0231030	Aubergines (egg plants)	0,4
0232000	Cucurbits — edible peel	0,2
0233000	Cucurbits — inedible peel	0,08
0241000	Flowering Brassica	0,06
024100	Broccoli	0,4
0242000	Head brassica	0,07
0243000	Leafy brassica	0,06
0243020	Kale	0,2
0250000	Leaf vegetables, herbs and edible flowers	0,7
0260000	Legume vegetables (fresh)	0,35
0270000	Stem vegetables (fresh)	0,25
0280010	Cultivated fungi (Common mushroom, oyster mushroom, shiitake)	0,7
0280020	Wild fungi (Chanterelle, truffle, morel, cep)	0,7
0280990	Mosses and lichens	0,05
0300000	Pulses	0,35

Draft: SANTE/10126/2019 ANNEX (Pool/E2/2019/10126/10126-EN ANNEX.docx) D063903/03 (2019)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14928-2019-ADD-1/en/pdf

Author: Frank Mörsberger

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