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    FAO/PL:1969/M/17/1

    WHO/FOOD ADD./70.38

    1969 EVALUATIONS OF SOME PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN FOOD

    THE MONOGRAPHS

    Issued jointly by FAO and WHO

    The content of this document is the result of the deliberations of the
    Joint Meeting of the FAO Working Party of Experts and the WHO Expert
    Group on Pesticide Residues, which met in Rome, 8 - 15 December 1969.

    FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

    WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

    Rome, 1970

    BROMIDE ION

    Explanation

    Residues as bromide ion resulting from use of ethylene dibromide and
    methyl bromide have been previously evaluated (FAO/WHO, 1967b, 1968b
    and 1969b).* At the Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide
    Residues (FAO/WHO, 1969c)* some doubts were expressed regarding the
    validity of some of the data on which certain of the recommendations
    had been based. The Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide
    Residues had also asked for clarification of the kinds of treatments
    that had been reviewed (e.g. whether including pick-up from treated
    soil) and concerning the identity of certain of the residues. These
    aspects were briefly reviewed as follows:

    EVALUATION FOR ACCEPTABLE DAILY INTAKE

    The Meeting noted that the presence of unreacted bromide in certain
    foods had recently been reported when using modern methods of residue
    analysis and that the analytical methods used in some of the earlier
    work may have resulted in the erroneous inclusion of some organic
    bromide in residues reported as inorganic bromide. The possibility of
    establishing 'Acceptable Daily Intakes' for the principal fumigants
    concerned was therefore reconsidered. As outlined in the parent report
    of the meeting (FAO/ WHO 1970a, Section 2.7),* the possibilities of
    doing this by considering data pertaining to the inhalation of the
    fumigants was considered; but it was concluded that acceptable daily
    intakes for these fumigants could not be established at this time.

    Notwithstanding the possibility that some organic bromide may
    previously have been reported as inorganic bromide, it was also
    concluded that there would be a continuing need to consider residues
    of bromine that do occur as inorganic bromide.

    RESIDUES IN FOOD AND THEIR EVALUATION

    (a) Tolerance of 20 ppm on fresh fruit

    It was noted that the recommended tolerance of 20 ppm on fresh fruit,
    other than citrus, strawberries and avocadoes, was not acceptable to
    certain countries since it did not take into account residues
    resulting from soil treatments. As no additional data on this aspect
    had been assembled or received since the Fourth Session of the Codex
    Committee in October 1969 it was decided not to amend the tolerance
    recommendation but generally to review the contribution of soil
    treatments at a subsequent meeting (see GENERAL CONCLUSION AND
    RECOMMENDATION).

                   
    *See Appendix II

    (b) Tolerances on a variety of fruit or vegetable products

    It was noted that a requirement for tolerances for certain products
    (including musk melon, banana pulp, egg plant, pineapple and lettuce)
    had been proposed at the 1969 Fourth Session of the Coder Committee
    (1969), and that such products might contain residues following
    treatments for phytosanitary (i.e. quarantine) purposes. In the
    absence of experimental or other data, however, detailed consideration
    of the matter had to be deferred to a later meeting (see GENERAL
    CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION).

    (c) 30 ppm tolerance for dried fruit

    On reconsidering the 1968 recommendations for tolerances for dried
    fruits, it was decided that the list of exceptions from the 30 ppm
    figure should remain unaltered. Any such exceptions for other products
    would need to be based on additional data (see GENERAL CONCLUSION AND
    RECOMMENDATION).

    (d) Tolerance of 400 ppm on dried eggs and certain other dried foods

    In a general review of this subject it was noted that the initial
    consideration by the Joint Meeting, of methyl bromide and ethylene
    dibromide, had been only concerned with cereal grains (FAO/WHO,
    1967b).* The fairly considerable amount of data on these products
    indicated that the formation of inorganic bromide occurs moderately
    readily, due to methylation of proteins, in the case of methyl bromide
    but not with ethylene dibromide. Ethylene dibromide, on the other
    hand, is far less readily dissipated from products during airing and
    there is a higher risk of its retention as such in foodstuffs in
    commerce. Some of the earlier analyses did not clearly differentiate
    between organic and inorganic forms.

    In the limited time available since the Fourth Session of the Codex
    Committee on Pesticide Residues, the original data, from which the 400
    ppm figure for dried eggs had been derived, had not become available
    for review. As the work had been performed in 1964 or earlier when
    satisfactory analytical methods specific for the free unchanged
    fumigants and for inorganic bromide ware not available however, it was
    considered likely that further experimental work on the fumigation of
    dried eggs with ethylene dibromide and with methyl bromide would be
    needed to clarify the position.

    In the meantime it was decided that the tolerance recommendation for
    dried eggs should remain in suspense.

                   
    *See Appendix II

    GENERAL CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

    In the course of a general discussion, the need to fumigate dried eggs
    and certain other products with methyl bromide, ethylene dibromide and
    similar fumigants was raised. It was decided that further information
    on this aspect should be sought. It was also decided that such
    information should be included in a general review of bromide
    residues, which should take points a, b, and c of this monograph into
    account. This review should be undertaken at the 1971 Meeting. By that
    time further information should also be available on various
    foodstuffs examined by methods of analysis able to identify the nature
    of residues more clearly than hitherto.
    


    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations
       Bromide ion (FAO/PL:1968/M/9/1)
       Bromide ion (Pesticide residues in food: 1981 evaluations)
       Bromide Ion (Pesticide residues in food: 1983 evaluations)
       Bromide ion (Pesticide residues in food: 1988 evaluations Part II Toxicology)