Pest Management Regulatory Agency
30 June 2011
ISSN: 1925-0843 (PDF version)
Cat. No.: H113-24/2011-26E-PDF (PDF version)

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Under the authority of the  Pest Control Products Act, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is proposing to establish maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pyrimethanil in or on stone fruits (Crop Group 12-09) to permit the import and sale of foods containing such residues.

Pyrimethanil is a fungicide currently registered in Canada for use on a number of fruit and vegetable commodities.

The PMRA has determined the quantity of residues that are likely to remain in or on the imported food commodities when pyrimethanil is used according to label directions in the exporting country. The Agency has also determined that such residues will not be a concern to human health and is proposing to legally establish a corresponding import 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.

Details regarding the import MRL can be found in the corresponding Evaluation Report that is available in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's Web site, under Public Registry, Pesticide Product Information Database.^{Footnote 1}

Consultation on the proposed MRLs for pyrimethanil is being conducted via this document (see Next Steps).

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 pyrimethanil in Canada in or on food, to replace or be added to those MRLs already legally established, are as follows.

Table 1 - Proposed Maximum Residue Limits for Pyrimethanil

Common Name	Residue Definition	MRL (ppm)	Food Commodity
ppm = parts per million Proposed to replace the 3.0 ppm MRL established for apricots, nectarines, peaches, plumcots, plums and prune plums on 9 July 2008 to accommodate a post-harvest application and include all commodities in the expanded crop group.
Pyrimethanil	4,6-dimethyl-N-phenyl-2-pyrimidinamine	10	Stone fruits (Crop Group 12-09)

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

A complete list of all pesticide 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 Web site.

International Situation and Trade Implications

MRLs may vary from one country to another for a number of reasons, including differences in pesticide use patterns and the locations of the field crop trials used to generate residue chemistry data. Table 2 compares the MRL proposed for pyrimethanil in Canada with the corresponding American tolerance and Codex Alimentarius MRLs^{Footnote 2}.

The proposed Canadian stone fruit MRL is consistent with the tolerance established in the United States (tolerances are listed in the  Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 40 CFR Part 180, by pesticide), but will result in commodities without a corresponding American tolerance as it applies to the expanded Crop Group 12-09.

Codex MRLs ranging from 2 to 5 ppm have been established for stone fruits in accordance with Table 2. A listing of all established Codex MRLs is available on the Codex Alimentarius  Pesticide Residues in Food Web site.

Table 2 - Comparison of Canadian MRL, American Tolerance and Codex MRLs

Food Commodity	Canadian MRL (ppm)	American Tolerance (ppm)	Codex MRL (ppm)
Stone fruits (Crop Group 12-09)	10	10 (Fruit, stone, group 12)	5 Cherries 4 Nectarine, Peach 3 Apricot 2 Plums (including prunes)

Next Steps

The PMRA invites the public to submit written comments on the proposed import MRLs for pyrimethanil up to 75 days from the date of publication of this document. Please forward your comments to Publications. The PMRA will consider all comments received before making a final decision on the proposed MRLs for pyrimethanil and posting a corresponding Established Maximum Residue Limit document in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's Web site.