Japan Revises the Residue Limits of Four Pesticides and Veterinary Drugs in Food

Pesticides and veterinary drugs subject to the amendment are Ethaboxam, Oxfendazole, Febantel, Fenbendazole, Tioxazafen, and Fenbuconazole; The implementation of MRLs for four pesticides and veterinary drugs in some food were given one-year grace period;

On May 27, 2021, Japan MHLW unveiled the amendment to "Standards and Criteria for Food and Food Additives, etc. ", which mainly revised the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of four pesticides and veterinary drugs.

Three pesticides:

Ethaboxam
Tioxazafen
Fenbuconazole

One type of Veterinary drug: Oxfendazole, Febantel, Fenbendazole,

The amendment has come into force since its publication on May 27, 2021.

The main changes are shown in the table below. However, the MRLs in some food (marked in red) has a one-year transition period. During the period, the previous provisions can still applies to this kind of food.

Pesticide and veterinary drug	Food	After (ppm)	Before (ppm)
Ethaboxam	Cabbage	4
	Broccoli	9
	Lettuce (including salad vegetables)	25
	Grape	8	10
Tioxazafen	Corn	0.02
	Soy bean	0.04
	Cottonseed	0.02
	Cow muscle, Pig muscles, Animal muscles belonging to other terrestrial mammals	0.02
	Cow fat, Pig fat, Fat of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	0.03
	Liver of cattle, liver of pigs, The liver of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	0.03
	Cow kidney, Kidney of pig, Kidney of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	0.03
	Edible parts of cattle, Edible parts of pigs, Edible parts of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	0.03
	Milk	0.02
	Chicken muscle and other poultry muscles	0.02
	Chicken fat and other poultry fat	0.02
	Liver of chicken and other poultry livers	0.02
	Kidney of kidney and other poultry kidneys	0.02
	Edible parts of chickens and edible parts of other poultry	0.02
	Egg of chicken and other poultry eggs	0.02
Fenbuconazole	Sugar beet	0.4	0.5
	Oriental pickling melon	0.2
	Melon	/	0.2
	Melon (including pericarp)	0.2	/
	Oriental melon	/	0.2
	Oriental melon (including pericarp)	0.2	/
	Orange	/	1
	Oranges (including outer pericarp)	1	/
	Apple	0.8	1
	Loquat	/	0.1
	Loquat (excluding peduncle, including pericarp and seeds)	0.5	/
	Peach	/	0.5
	Peach (including pericarp and seeds)	2	/
	Other fruits	0.5
	Tea	30	10
	Others herbs	0.6
Oxfendazole, Febantel, Fenbendazole	Edible parts of cattle, Edible parts of pigs, Edible parts of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	0.5	3
	Turkey muscle	/	2
	Other poultry muscles (excluding turkey)	/	0.03
	Other poultry muscles	2	/
	Turkey liver	/	6
	Other poultry livers(excluding turkey)	/	2
	Other poultry livers	6	/
A uniform standard (0.01ppm) is applicable to foods whose residual standard values are listed as blank.

It is noteworthy that the MRLs of “Oxfendazole, Febantel, Fenbendazole” in “Turkey muscle” and “Other poultry muscles (excluding turkey)” have been deleted and a new residual limit was set in "Other poultry muscles". (The same holds for “Turkey liver” and “Other poultry livers (excluding turkey)”)