Pest Management Regulatory Agency
22 March 2011
ISSN: 1925-0843 (PDF version)
Cat. No.: H113-24/2011-07E-PDF (PDF version)

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Under the authority of the  Pest Control Products Act, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has received applications to register technical grade flonicamid and the end-use product Beleaf 50SG Insecticide for use in Canada on a variety of agricultural crops.

The evaluation of these flonicamid applications indicated that the end-use product has merit and value and the human health and environmental risks associated with its proposed uses are acceptable. Details regarding these applications can be found in Proposed Registration Decision PRD2010-25, Flonicamid.

Before registering a pesticide for food use in Canada, the PMRA must determine the quantity of residues that are likely to remain in or on the food when the pesticide is used according to label directions and that such residues will not be a concern to human health. This quantity is then legally established as a maximum residue limit (MRL). An MRL applies to the identified raw agricultural food commodity as well as to any processed food product that contains it, except where separate MRLs are specified for the raw agricultural commodity and a processed product made from it.

Consultation on the proposed MRLs for flonicamid was conducted domestically via PRD2010 25. Information regarding the proposed MRLs is found in Section 3.5.4 and supporting field trial residue data are provided in Appendix I, Table 5 of the Proposed Registration Decision.

To comply with Canada's international trade obligations, consultation on the proposed MRLs is also being conducted internationally by notifying the  World Trade Organization, as coordinated by the  Standards Council of Canada.

The proposed MRLs for flonicamid in Canada in or on food are as follows.

Table 1 - Proposed Maximum Residue Limits for Flonicamid

Common Name	Residue Definition	MRL (ppm)	Food Commodity
Flonicamid	N-(cyanomethyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinecarboxamide, including the metabolites 4-trifluoromethylnicotinic acid, N-(4-trifluoromethylnicotinoyl) glycine and  4-trifluoromethylnicotinamide	16	Leafy Brassica greens (Crop Subgroup 5B), radish tops
		9.0	Spinach
		7.0	Hops
		4.0	Leafy vegetables, except Brassica (Crop Group 4; except spinach)
		2.0	Tomato paste
		1.5	Head and stem Brassica (Crop Subgroup 5A)
		0.6	Root vegetables, except sugarbeets (Crop Subgroup 1B),stone fruits (Crop Group 12-09)
		0.5	Tomato puree
		0.4	Fruiting vegetables (Crop Group 8-09), cucurbit vegetables (Crop Group 9), potato flakes, potato granules
		0.2	Tuberous and corm vegetables (Crop Subgroup 1C), pome fruits (Crop Group 11-09)
	N-(cyanomethyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinecarboxamide, including the metabolites 4-trifluoromethylnicotinic acid and 4-trifluoromethylnicotinamide	0.08	Meat and meat byproducts of cattle, goats, horses and sheep
		0.03	Fat of cattle, goats, horses and sheep; milk

ppm = parts per million

MRLs are proposed for each commodity included in the listed crop groupings in accordance with the Residue Chemistry Crop Groups Web page in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website.

A complete list of all MRLs established in Canada can be found on the Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides Web page in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website.

International Situation and Trade Implications

The proposed MRLs for flonicamid in Canada are the same as corresponding tolerances established in the United States (tolerances are listed in the  Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 40 CFR Part 180, by pesticide). However, note that American tolerances are established for Crop Groups 8, 11 and 12 whereas Canadian MRLs are being proposed for the expanded Crop Groups 8-09, 11-09 and 12-09. Therefore, Canadian MRLs are being proposed for a number of commodities without corresponding American tolerances.

Currently, Codex Alimentarius MRLs ^{Footnote 1} have not been established for flonicamid on any commodity. A listing of all established Codex MRLs is available on the Codex Alimentarius  Pesticide Residues in Food website.