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The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA - law) authorizes EPA to set maximum residue levels, or tolerances, for pesticides used in or on foods or animal feed. FFDCA:
- Mandates strong provisions to protect infants and children
- Provides the authority to set tolerances in foods and feeds (maximum pesticide residue levels)
- Also provides authority to exempt a pesticide from the requirement of a tolerance rule-making process
- Required to set tolerances or exemptions
- Before a registration can be granted for a food use pesticide, a tolerance or tolerance exemption must be in place
- Mandates primarily a health-based standard for setting the tolerance--"reasonable certainty of no harm"
- Benefits may be considered only in limited extreme circumstances, very unlikely
- Pesticide residues in foods are monitored and the tolerances enforced by FDA (fruits and vegetables, seafood) and USDA (meat, milk, poultry, eggs, and aquacultural foods)
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