2016 Total Diet Survey - Ministry of Primary Industries - request to include Glyphosate in testing

Publications & Resources

2016 Total Diet Survey

Following the PSGR submission to the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries requesting that glyphosate be included in the list of contaminants in the 2016 Total Diet Survey testing and for all subsequent Surveys, we have been advised that their decision is not to include it. See http://www.psgr.org.nz/submissions/40-general/156-2015-total-diet-survey-to-mpi-6-october-2015.

The absence of glyphosate on the analytes list was highlighted as an issue raised by many submitters. MPI says it was assessed but not included primarily because there are other, more comprehensive, MPI monitoring programmes that will be targeting glyphosate to determine compliance with regulatory limits.

Reference the IARC review, MPI point out that the review found it “a hazard categorisation only, which does not consider the dose at which glyphosate may be carcinogenic. At this time, there has been no modification to the risk assessment to suggest that exposure to glyphosate at current levels in the diet is a carcinogenic risk. Furthermore, a recently published European Food Safety Authority review on glyphosate, that also considered the IARC outcome, has concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans.”

Proposal document http://www.mpi.govt.nz/ news-and-esources/consultations /2016-nz-total-diet-study/.

Further information www.foodsafety.govt.nz/policy-law/food-monitoring-programmes/total-diet-study/.

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