| Download the government's draft notification on
pesticide limits (.pdf) New Delhi, August 30, 2003: The draft notification on standards to regulate
the presence of poisonous metal and pesticide residues in beverages, including soft
drinks, has been issued. The notification, which was issued on August 26, 2003, by the
Union ministry of health and family welfare, and published in the Gazette of India, has
been put up for public response before these standards are notified under the Prevention
of Food Adulteration Act.
The notification rightly proposes more
stringent limits for the presence of pesticides, insecticides and heavy metals in all
kinds of beverages (see table).
The standards for lead, for instance, have become 50 times tighter, from 0.5 ppm (or mg/l)
to 0.01 ppm. Those for copper have been fixed at 0.05 ppm (it is 7.0 ppm in existing
standards): this is 100 times more stringent than the current norms. For arsenic, the
standards for both soft drinks and carbonated water have been proposed at 0.05 ppm, which
is more stringent than the existing norms. The notification also proposes standards as per
international norms for the presence of cadmium, mercury, chromium and nickel in all
beverages (including soft drinks); these metals have remained totally disregarded –
particularly in the case of soft drinks — by existing standards.
Furthermore, the notification proposes to
extend the norms for pesticide residues that have been notified (and will come into force
from January 1, 2004) for bottled water to beverages.
The draft notification is an important
step in ensuring that regulations on this "food" industry are tightened and made
health-based. This is the imperative, as CSE has always pointed out.
Standards to regulate harmful
substances in soft drinks (in ppm)
| |
Fruit Products Order, 1955 |
Prevention of Food
Adulteration Rules (PFA), 1955 |
Carbonated beverages
IS: 2346:1992 |
Bottled water IS:
14543:1998 |
Draft notification amending
the PFA, Aug 26, 2003* |
| Pesticides |
|
|
|
|
|
| Pesticide residues |
No
standards |
No
standards |
No
standards |
0.0001
(individual)
0.0005 (total) |
0.0001
(individual) 0.0005 (total) |
| Poisonous metals |
|
|
|
|
|
| Arsenic |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.25 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
| Cadmium |
No standard |
No standard |
No standard |
0.01 |
0.01 |
| Lead (soft drink not including
the concentrates used to make the drink) |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
| Lead (concentrates used to make
soft drink) |
2.0 |
2.0 |
— |
— |
— |
| Copper (soft drink not
including the concentrates used to make the soft drinks) |
5.0 |
7.0 |
1.5 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
| Copper (concentrates used to
make soft drinks) |
20.0 |
20.0 |
— |
— |
— |
| Mercury |
— |
No standard |
— |
— |
0.001 |
| Chromium |
— |
No standard |
— |
— |
0.05 |
| Nickel |
— |
No standard |
— |
— |
0.02 |
*Draft notification issued by the
Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on August 26, 2003.The notification uses the
term ‘beverages’ for the following — carbonated water, fruits and vegetable
juices, fruit syrup, fruit squash, fruit beverages or fruit drink, soft drink concentrates
(after dilution as per declaration) and beverages of all kinds. |
