New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) recently published an amended MRL regulation. The updated standard, New Zealand (Maximum Residue Limits of Agricultural Compounds) Food Standards 2013, is comprehensive and enters into force on August 8th.
Included in this regulation are MRLs for agricultural compounds, exemptions from MRLs for plant compounds, and exemptions from MRLs for veterinary drugs.
It is important to note that New Zealand maintains a deferral path for imported food product. If an MRL is not established in New Zealand’s MRL Food Standard, then a default MRL of 0.1 parts per million (ppm) is applicable. New Zealand then accepts the least restrictive value between MRLs established in their national regulation (0.1 ppm default included) and MRLs established by Codex.
