FAO/PL:1967/M/11/1
WHO/Food Add./68.30
1967 EVALUATIONS OF SOME PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN FOOD
THE MONOGRAPHS
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
Committee on Pesticide Residues, which met in Rome, 4 - 11 December,
1967. (FAO/WHO, 1968)
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
Rome, 1968
HEPTACHLOR
This pesticide was evaluated by the 1966 Joint Meeting of the FAO
Working Party and the WHO Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues
(FAO/WHO, 1967).
Although there are no important new data available which might change
the previous recommendations for temporary tolerances, the previously
recommended practical residue limits were reconsidered in the light of
comments made by some member countries of the Codex Alimentarius
Committee on Pesticide Residues at its second session in the Hague in
September 1967. This reconsideration has resulted in the following
revision of recommendations.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TOLERANCES AND PRACTICAL RESIDUE LIMITS
Temporary tolerances
See FAO/WHO, 1967.
Practical residue limits
The manufacturer confirms that the USA is the largest user of
heptachlor in the world. The number of approved recommendations for
use and actual scale of use in the USA exceed those of any other
country. Heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide residues found in a total
of 49,356 domestic samples of food and 3,836 import samples during the
period 1 July 1963 - 30 June 1966, were found at a frequency of 7.5
per cent in domestic food and 1.5 per cent in imports. (Corresponding
figures for other pesticides were : DDT, 26.7 per cent and 30.4 per
cent; dieldrin, 17.8 per cent and 13.1 per cent; lindane, 4.8 per cent
and 1.5 per cent). In total diet studies carried out over
approximately the same period, the average amount of heptachlor
epoxide in food was reported at 0.00004 mg/kg body weight (Duggan and
Dawson, 1967), i.e. less than 10 per cent of the ADI recommended by
the 1966 FAO/WHO Joint Meeting. Since the ADI is arrived at with a
view to a lifetime of consumption by man, this USA average incidence
and intake of these residues in food is a significant guideline to
residues that can be expected to occur in the diet from the highest
scale of use known.
Consequently, a realistic revision is recommended of practical residue
limits for the total of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide as follows :
whole milk 0.005 ppm
products manufactured from milk (on a fat basis) 0.125 ppm
fat of meat 0.2 ppm
cereals 0.02 ppm
vegetables 0.05 ppm
These temporary practical residue limits are recommended until 31
December 1970.
FURTHER WORK
Further work required before 31 June 1970
1. Additional data on total diet studies on both domestic and
imported food.
2. Additional data on disappearance of residues during food
processing and preparation for consumption.
REFERENCES PERTINENT TO EVALUATION FOR TOLERANCES
Duggan, R.E. and Dawson, K. Pesticides. (1967) A report on residues in
food. FDA Papers, 1 : 2-10.
FAO/WHO. (1967) Evaluation of some pesticide residues in food. FAO
Mtg. Rept. No. PL:CP/15; WHO/Food Add./67.32.