Draft Guidelines on Food Classification for the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (Cap. 132CM)
1.1 To better protect public health, facilitate effective regulatory control and promote harmonisation between local and international standards, the
Administration has made a new Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (“the Regulation”, Cap. 132CM) under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132) to regulate pesticide residues in food. The Regulation will come into operation on 1 August 2014 after a grace period of two years.
1.2 One of the key features of the Regulation is to adopt the standards of the pesticide residues in food formulated by the Codex Alimentarius
Commission (Codex)1 as the backbone of the local set of standards specified in Schedule 1 of the Regulation. The Codex food classification system is also adopted in parallel. This approach has the benefit of using nomenclatures consistent with those used in international trade.
1.3 This document “Guidelines on Food Classification for the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation” (the Guidelines) is intended to facilitate the trade in identifying the appropriate pesticide residue limits that are relevant to the food commodities concerned. The Guidelines is prepared by making reference to the Codex Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds (CAC/MISC 4). Only food commodities of local interest/relevance are included in the Guidelines and traders are recommended to refer to the original Codex classification for a complete Codex list of food commodities if necessary. The Guidelines has also incorporated food items of special local interest not found on the Codex list.
