Japan Revises the Residue Limits of Three Pesticides in Food

Japan implemented new maximum residue limits (MRLs) of 3 pesticides in foods, including Tolfenpyrad, Fenquinotrione, and Flazasulfuron on Oct. 19, 2021. Some foods are subject to a one-year transition period, such as broccoli, tomato and strawberry. The MRLs for the pesticides Tolfenpyrad and Flazasulfuron in food were further lowered.

As revealed by the amendments released on Oct. 19, 2021, Japan MHLW officially revised the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of three pesticides, including Tolfenpyrad, Fenquinotrione, and Flazasulfuron. The amendments came into effect immediately after the promulgation.

However, it should be noted that a grace period of one year was granted for some foods (see the red part below). During the period, the previous provisions can still apply to involved foods.

The main changes for MRLs of Tolfenpyrad：

Japan has dramatically tightened the provisions on the residue limit standard of Tolfenpyrad in foods. In particular, the provisions for tomato and eggplant are 200 times stricter than before, and that of strawberry are 30 times more stringent than before.

Food	After (ppm)	Before (ppm)
Daikon (including radish) Root	0.03	0.2
Daikon (including radish) Leaves	2	10
Turnip root	0.2	1
Turnip leaf	7	25
Napa cabbage	1	2
Cauliflower	0.5	0.01
Broccoli	0.7	1
Lettuce (including salad vegetables)	2	10
Onion	0.02	0.01
Green onion (including leek)	2	5
Allium tuberosum	9	10
Other liliaceae vegetables	0.1	0.01
Celery	4	3
Tomato	0.01	2
Bell pepper	2	3
Eggplant	0.01	2
Other solanaceae vegetables	0.2	0.01
Cucumber (including Gherkin)	0.7	1
Watermelon	/	0.05
Watermelon (including pericarp)	0.6	/
Orange	/	0.1
Oranges (including outer pericarp)	3	/
Japanese pear	0.3	2
European pear	0.3	2
Peach	/	0.2
Peach (including pericarp and seeds)	10	/
Prunus salicina (including prune)	1	2
Strawberry	0.1	3
Tea	30	20

The main changes for MRLs of Fenquinotrione：

Food	After (ppm)	Before (ppm)
Liver of cattle	2	0.01
Liver of pigs	2	0.01
The liver of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	2	0.01
Cow kidney	0.6	0.01
Kidney of pig	0.6	0.01
Kidney of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	0.6	0.01
Edible parts of cattle	2	0.01
Edible parts of pigs	2	0.01
Edible parts of animals belonging to other terrestrial mammals	2	0.01

The main changes for MRLs of Flazasulfuron：

The amendment to the MRLs of Flazasulfuron involves a total of 135 foods. Among them, the MRLs of 113 products, including grains, vegetables, fruits, oilseeds, and dried nuts, were lowered from 0.02ppm to 0.01ppm; 18 kinds of fruits were reduced from 0.1ppm to 0.01ppm, one tenth of the previous limits. Besides, the MRLs of sugarcance and grapes were pulled from 0.1ppm to 0.05ppm, and that of some spices were changed from 0.1ppm to 0.2ppm.

Notably, the MRL of Flazasulfuron in "Orange" was deleted, and a new residual limit (0.1ppm) was set in "Oranges (including outer pericarp)".

*Feel free to contact ChemLinked if you need the full list of MRLs of Flazasulfuron.