Saudi Arabia: Contaminants and Toxins

In April 2019, the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Yemen notified the Word Trade Organization of the amendments on the Gulf Draft Technical Regulation for "Contaminants and toxins in food and feed".
EU: Pesticide Residues in Food Report

On June 26, 2019, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published the 2017 European Union Report on Pesticide Residues in Food, finding that 95.9% of the samples analyzed (88,247 samples) fell within legal limits; around 54.1% were free of any quantifiable residues.
EU: Aflatoxins in Dried Figs, Audit in Turkey

The European Commission published a report that describes the outcome of an audit carried out in Turkey, November 19-29, 2018, with the aim of assessing if the systems in place to control aflatoxin contamination in dried figs intended for export to the European Union (EU) are adequate.
EU: MRLs Update

The European Commission published the Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/1176 of 10 July 2019 amending Annexes II, III and V to Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards maximum residue levels for 2,5-dichlorobenzoic acid methylester, mandipropamid and profoxydim in or on certain products.
EU: Changes to Border Controls

On July 23, 2019, the European Union published the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1249 of 22 July 2019 amending Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the increased level of official controls on imports of certain feed and food of non-animal origin.
EFSA: Fonicamid, MRLs Review

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published the Reasoned Opinion on the Modification of the existing maximum residue levels for flonicamid in strawberries and other berries.
EFSA: Chlorpyrifos-methyl; Approval Criteria

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a statement on the available outcomes of the human health assessment in the context of the pesticides peer review for the renewal of approval of the active substance chlorpyrifos-methyl.
China: MRLs Update
USA: Pesticide Petitions
China: MRLs Update