The impact of Russia’s aggression on EU-Russia and EU-Ukraine trade in agri-food products has been immediate. Ukraine normally supplies almost half of the cereals (52 % of EU maize imports) and vegetable/rapeseed oils (23 % and 72 % of EU imports respectively) and a quarter of the poultry meat imported to Europe, and Russia is a major global exporter of fertilisers, vegetable oils, wheat and barley.
FoodDrinkEurope, which represents the European food industry called for temporary flexibility on food labelling and official controls across the EU to help companies deal with the rapidly changing availability of ingredients.
The World Food Programme warns that the war could prompt an extremely serious global food crisis
The European Commission decided in the extraordinary PAFF committee of March 11th to let member nations set their own rules for the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) of imported crops. The temporary measure was set in place in an attempt to relieve strain on the EU’s agri-food sector; dwindling grain supplies caused by the war in Ukraine may soon affect European farmers’ abilities to feed their livestock.
On the basis of the Commission’s decision, Spain performed a risk analysis considering 10 plant protection products and concluded that 6 of them did not present a problem according to the current legislation. For the remaining 4, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has agreed to set an upper limit according to the above risk analysis, in application of Article 18 of Regulation 396/2005, on maximum residue levels of pesticides in food and feed of plant and animal origin.
According to this risk analysis Spain relaxed its import standards for maize from Brazil and Argentina for animal feed, allowing chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos to exceed MRLs that are considered safe for consumers by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This decision will last for six months.
To guide EU nations in making decisions about their individual, temporary import requirements, EFSA produced an assessment which warned countries against raising MRLs for chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos.
A preliminary report from Spain showed that the livestock feed mix, for which the imported maize will be used, would be compliant with EU standards. However, due to Spain’s departure from EFSA’s import recommendations, the Commission is asking Spain to conduct a full risk assessment and a detailed report on how it will ensure the feed is used safely. Additionally, the Commission is asking Portugal to provide a similar explanation for its relaxation of import regulations in an effort to provide feed to its livestock farmers.
Chlorpyrifos, which is banned in the U.S. as well as the EU since 2020, has been linked to damage of the human brain and reproductive system. EFSA also strongly considers dichlorvos as a risk to consumer health.
Mérieux NutriSciences provides a wide range of services (including testing) to food manufacturers for pesticides residues quantification guaranteeing them to meet regulations and quality standards. Our laboratories are ISO17025 accredited.
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