The Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR)

The current JMPR comprises the WHO Core Assessment Group and the FAO Panel of Experts on Pesticide Residues in Food and the Environment. It is recognized as a successful model on the collaboration with WHO. The JMPR consists of experts drawn from governments and academic circles, who attend as independent internationally-recognized specialists who act in a personal capacity and not as representatives of national governments.

The WHO Core Assessment Group is responsible for reviewing pesticide toxicological and related data and estimating no-observed-adverse-effect-levels (NOAELs) of pesticides and Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI) of their residues in food for humans. In addition, as data and circumstances dictate, the Group estimates acute reference doses (ARfDs) and characterizes other toxicological criteria such as non-dietary exposures.

The FAO Panel is responsible for reviewing pesticide use patterns (GAPs), data on the chemistry and composition of pesticides, environmental fate, metabolism in farm animals and crops, methods of analysis for pesticide residues and processing studies and for estimating maximum residue levels, supervised trials median residue values (STMRs) and highest residues (HRs) in food and feed commodities. The toxicity of the active ingredient and its metabolites, evaluated by the WHO Core Assessment Group, is taken into consideration in deciding if residues may or may not give rise to problems of public health. The maximum residue levels are recommended to the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) as suitable for consideration as Codex Maximum Residue Limits (Codex MRLs) to be adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC).

The JMPR has evaluated pesticides more than 40 years with the aim of estimating the maximum residue levels in food and feed which are likely to result from legally permitted uses of pesticides. Up to now, there are 42 sessions (meetings) been conducted, and about 250 compounds with more than 2000 MRLs been discussed and recommended by JMPR.

The output of JMPR not only constitutes the essential basis for the decisions of the Codex Alimentarius Commission when it adopts maximum residue limits (MRLs) for food and agricultural commodities circulating in international trade, its health-based guidance for pesticides (i.e. ADIs and ARfDs) and recommends maximum residue levels also benefit to the governments of the member countries and regions.

Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR)

The maximum residue levels proposed by the JMPR are considered by the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR). The CCPR, a subsidiary body of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), is an intergovernmental meeting whose prime objective is to reach agreement between governments on maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides residues in food and feed commodities moving in international trade. The MRL proposals are considered by the CCPR as part of eight-step procedure which provides opportunity for discussion and comment by national governments and other interested organizations. The CCPR recommends MRLs to the biennial meeting of the CAC, for adoption as Codex maximum residue limits (CXLs).

Codex Alimentarius: Database on Maximum Limits for Pesticide Residue in Foods