China Unveils GB 2763-2019 Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides in Food

GB 2763-2019 specifies 7107 maximum residue limits (MRL) for 483 pesticides in 356 food categories. Generally speaking in China’s new MRL standard the acceptable concentration of pesticides and MRL items exceed limitation standards stipulated by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. GB 2763-2019 will replace GB 2763-2016 and GB 2763.1-2018 starting from Feb. 28, 2020.

On Aug. 15, 2019, China NHC, MOARA and SAMR jointly released 3 national food safety standards ^[1], including:

GB 2763-2019 National Food Safety Standard Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides in Food
GB 23200.116-2019 National Food Safety Standard Determination of 90 Organophosphorus Pesticides and Their Metabolite Residue in Plant Origin Food- Gas Chromatographic Method
GB 23200.117-2019National Food Safety Standard Determination of Oxine-Copper Residue in Plant Origin Food - High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

These 3 standards will come into effect on Feb. 28, 2020. After formal implementation, GB 2763-2019 will replace GB 2763-2016 and GB 2763.1-2018.

GB 2763-2019 specifies 7107 maximum residue limits (MRL) for 483 pesticides in 356 food categories and includes 50 new pesticide varieties and an additional 2967 MRLs compared with its 2016 version. The most noteworthy information about the new standard is ^[2]:

The updated standard covers all pesticides permitted in China, and the MRLs are set based on scientific evaluation
Banned and restricted pesticides with high risk are underscored; 585 limits are stipulated for 27 banned pesticides and there are 311 limits for 16 restricted pesticides.
The pesticides MRL items for minor agricultural products increased to 1602, which is twice as many as stipulated in the 2016 version. 804 limit items are newly included for 119 agricultural products such as ginseng, waxberry and winter jujube.
703 MRLs for 109 pesticides are stipulated for 27 animal-origin products, and the MRL concentrations specified are 14 times greater than the 2016 version
To address situations where pesticides used in imported agricultural products have not been registered in China, the latest standard stipulates 1109 MRL items for 77 pesticides using the Codex as reference.

Check the complete text in ChemLinked Regulatory Database