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)