Proposed Maximum Residue Limit PMRL2012-16, Fluopicolide

Notice to the reader: The online consultation is now closed. Comments and suggestions received during the public consultation period are being considered in the finalization of this document. The final report will be made available as soon as possible.

Pest Management Regulatory Agency
22 May 2012
ISSN: 1925-0843 (PDF version)
Catalogue number: H113-24/2012-16E-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 granted conditional registration to technical grade fluopicolide and the end-use products Fluopicolide 4 SC Fungicide and Presidio Fungicide for use in Canada on various commodities. The specific uses approved in Canada are detailed on the product labels of Fluopicolide 4 SC Fungicide and Presidio Fungicide, Pest Control Products Act Registration Number 30050 and 30051, respectively.

The evaluation of these fluopicolide applications indicated that the end-use products have merit and value and the human health and environmental risks associated with the new uses are acceptable. Details regarding these conditional registrations can be found in Evaluation Report ERC2011-08, Fluopicolide, which was posted to the Health Canada website on 21 November 2011.

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 fluopicolide is being conducted via this document (see Next Steps, the last section of this document). ERC2011-08 includes information regarding the proposed MRLs in Sections 3.5.4 and 7.1 and Appendix II addresses the international situation and trade implications. Field trial residue data supporting the MRLs are provided in Appendix I, Table 5 of the Evaluation Report.

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 in Canada in or on food, to replace or be added to the MRLs already established for fluopicolide, are as follows.

Table 1 - Proposed Maximum Residue Limits for Fluopicolide

Common Name	Residue Definition	MRL Table 1 footnote (ppm)	Food Commodity
Table 1 footnotes Table 1 footnote 1 = parts per million Return to table 1 footnote ppm referrer Table 1 footnote 2 The MRL is proposed to replace the currently established 16 ppm MRLs for head lettuce and leaf lettuce and add MRLs for the remaining commodities in the crop subgroup. Return to table 1 footnote a referrer Table 1 footnote 3 An MRL of 0.02 ppm was proposed for "Tuberous and corm vegetables, except potatoes (Crop Subgroup 1D)" in PMRL2010-69 and this action proposes to extend the same MRL to potatoes, thereby including all tuberous and corm vegetables in Crop Subgroup 1C. Return to table 1 footnote b referrer
Fluopicolide	2,6-dichloro-N-[[3-chloro-5-(trifluoromethyl)-2-pyridinyl]methyl]benzamide	25	Leafy vegetables, except Brassica (Crop Group 4)Table 1 footnote a
		15	Leaves of root and tuber vegetables (Crop Group 2)
		7.0	Bulb vegetables (Crop Group 3-07)
		5.0	Brassica head and stem vegetables (Crop Subgroup 5A)
		0.15	Root vegetables, except sugar beet (Crop Subgroup 1B; except carrot roots)
		0.02	PotatoesTable 1 footnote b

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

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

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. For animal commodities, differences in MRLs can be due to different livestock feed items and practices.

As per Table 2, the MRLs proposed for fluopicolide in Canada are consistent with the corresponding tolerances established in the United States but differ from Codex MRLs^{Footnote 1}. American tolerances are listed in the  Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 40 CFR Part 180, by pesticide. A listing of established Codex MRLs is available on the Codex Alimentarius  Pesticide Residues in Food website, by pesticide or commodity.

Table 2 - Comparison of Canadian MRLs, American Tolerances and Codex MRLs

Food Commodity	Canadian MRL (ppm)	American Tolerance (ppm)	Codex MRL (ppm)
Leafy vegetables, except Brassica (Crop Group 4)	25	25	30 (Leafy vegetables)
			20 (celery)
Leaves of root and tuber vegetables (Crop Group 2)	15	15	Not Established
Bulb vegetables (Crop Group 3-07)	7.0	7.0	10 (Onion, Welsh)
			1.0 (Onion, Bulb)
Brassica head and stem vegetables (Crop Subgroup 5A)	5.0	5.0	7.0 (Cabbages, Head)
			2.0 (Flowerhead brassicas (includes Broccoli: Broccoli, Chinese and Cauliflower))
			0.2 (Brussels sprouts)
Root vegetables, except sugar beet (Crop Subgroup 1B; except carrot roots)	0.15	0.15 (Vegetable root, subgroup 1A)	Not Established
Potatoes	0.02	0.02 (Vegetable, tuberous and corm subgroup 1C)	Not Established

Next Steps

The PMRA invites the public to submit written comments on the proposed MRLs for fluopicolide 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 fluopicolide and posting a corresponding Established Maximum Residue Limit document in the Pesticides and Pest Management section of Health Canada's website.