The Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011 prescribe maximum limits of pesticides for all food products including fruits and vegetables.
Presence of pesticide residues beyond the prescribed levels in fruit and vegetables is to be treated as a violation of conditions laid out under the said Regulations, attracting penal action under the Act.
Enforcement of the provisions of the Act and Regulations is primarily the responsibility of States/UTs. Random samples of food items are drawn by the State Food Safety Officers for testing.
These are analysed by the designated food testing laboratories. Penal action is taken against offenders in case the samples are found to be not conforming to the provisions of the above Regulations.
The maximum residue levels for pesticides are laid down under the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011 by following a due process.
The Central Insecticide Board & Registration Committee (CIB&RC) under the Ministry of Agriculture forwards the application for the Pesticide on which the MRL needs to be fixed to FSSAI.
The Scientific Panel on Pesticides and Antibiotic Residues constituted under FSSAI examines the proposal of CIB &RC and fixes Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) after taking into consideration the climatic and geographical conditions in India.
These are then approved by Scientific Committee and the Food Authority before these are notified. The levels / norms fixed by the European Union, USA and UK as per their climatic and geographical conditions are different from the levels / norms, fixed by India.
This was stated by Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.
