Maximum residue and contaminant limits in food: databases

*This record is given in both English and Spanish
One of the fundamental goals of food law is to ensure a high level of public health protection. In this sense, food may contain different harmful substances or organisms that are naturally present or are incorporated along the food chain, as a result of the production process or as a consequence of environmental contamination. Where the presence of these contaminants or residues poses a risk to the consumer, management measures should be taken, including the establishment of regulations limiting the presence of these contaminants in food to reduce consumer exposure.
The objective of this work is to identify the main databases of Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) of pesticides, residues of veterinary medicines and chemical, biological and radiological contaminants, internationally, as well as in the European Union and in Spain. The use of these databases can be very helpful for the competent authorities that conduct official controls of food products, as well as for the economic operators who want to import or export products, thus facilitating searches for these requirements, allowing them to know which are the legal limits required in each country and for each type of product. This is an adaptation of the final master’s degree work of the same name carried out at the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) and presented in the Master’s Degree in Food Safety from the School of Government of the Complutense University of Madrid.
Taking into account the information offered by different databases, it is considered that the most complete and useful databases of each category for a Spanish user are the database of the European Commission for pesticides, the database of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) for residues of medicines for veterinary use and the database of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition for chemical, microbiological and radiological contaminants.