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

    ETHION

    Explanation

    Residues of this pesticide were evaluated at the 1968 Joint Meeting
    and a monograph was issued (FAO/WHO 1969b).*

    When the recommendations made at the 1968 Joint Meeting were
    considered at the Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide
    Residues it was pointed out that the suggested tolerance for meat of
    cattle would raise important difficulties connected with the use of
    pesticide to meet quarantine requirements. The Meeting therefore
    reconsidered the recommendation pertaining to meat of cattle as
    indicated in the following monograph addendum:

    RESIDUES IN MEAT AND THEIR EVALUATION

    USE PATTERN

    The circumstances in which it may sometimes be necessary to slaughter
    animals before the passage of the three-day interval that had been
    recommended in 1968, and the residue data pertaining to such use were
    examined. It was noted that regulations designed to prevent the spread
    of cattle ticks sometimes required that animals passing from
    tick-infected to clean country should be dipped and then passed
    immediately to slaughter. The data presented showed that 10 percent of
    samples from animals slaughtered in such areas showed residues in the
    fat greater than 1.5 with very few above 2.5 ppm. It was also noted
    that the residues appear almost solely in the fat and not in the
    flesh; also that there is some evidence that residues in sub-cutaneous
    fat are lower than that in body fat. 2.5 ppm was considered to be an
    acceptable level by the Meeting.

    AMENDMENT TO RECOMMENDATION FOR MEAT

    TEMPORARY TOLERANCE

    The figure of 2.5 ppm should replace that previously made for the fat
    of meat of cattle.

    As residues in fat persist in storage of meat, the tolerance can be
    based on the assumption that the residues will be measured in fat at
    any stage after slaughter but prior to processing or cooking. For this
    reason it was decided to withdraw the words '(at slaughter)' that were
    included in the recommendations for Temporary Tolerances made at the
    1968 Joint Meeting (FAO/WHO, 1969a and b).*

                   
    * See Appendix II
    

    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations
       Ethion (ICSC)
       Ethion (FAO/PL:1968/M/9/1)
       Ethion (AGP:1970/M/12/1)
       Ethion (WHO Pesticide Residues Series 2)
       Ethion (WHO Pesticide Residues Series 5)
       Ethion (Pesticide residues in food: 1982 evaluations)
       Ethion (Pesticide residues in food: 1983 evaluations)
       Ethion (Pesticide residues in food: 1986 evaluations Part II Toxicology)
       Ethion (Pesticide residues in food: 1990 evaluations Toxicology)