"Science-based Maximum Residue Limits are the bridge between consumer safety and farm productivity." Examine with reference to India's pesticide regulatory framework.

A Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) is the highest legally permitted pesticide residue in a food. It is fixed using residue data and dietary-exposure assessment [1]. FSSAI's October 2026 draft MRLs for tea set Acetamiprid at 20 mg/kg and Imidacloprid at 50 mg/kg [1]. They show that such limits can serve both consumers and growers, but only if the regulatory chain behind them holds.

MRLs as a consumer-safety tool

• Statutory backing: residue tolerances are fixed under Section 21, FSS Act, 2006, through the FSS (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011 [2].
• Measurable benchmark: labs and enforcement bodies test against a fixed number rather than their own discretion [1].
• Risk pruning: FSSAI earlier delisted 13 higher-toxicity pesticides [1].

MRLs as a productivity and trade enabler

• Legitimises judicious use: pesticides used as prescribed cut crop losses. India uses under 0.5 kg/ha, against a global average of 2.38 kg/ha [1].
• Certainty for the value chain: growers, processors and buyers share one standard, which builds confidence in Indian tea [1].
• Trade alignment: the Imidacloprid limit follows Codex. The Acetamiprid limit is below Japan's (30 ppm) and the USA's (50 ppm) [1]. Stakeholders have urged aligning India's MRLs with international standards [3].

Where the bridge is weak

• Split regulation: FSSAI (Health Ministry) sets MRLs. Pesticides are registered separately by the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee under the Insecticides Act, 1968 [4], which allows registration before any MRL exists [5].
• Enforcement gaps: a 2017 CAG audit found that some state labs lacked facilities to test for pesticide contamination [6].
• Farm-level compliance: the safety case assumes growers keep the gap between spraying and plucking. FSSAI had to train Small Tea Growers on this in Coonoor [7].
• Export mismatch: EU MRLs are hazard-based and stricter than FSSAI's [8]. Meeting Codex standards therefore does not guarantee access to every market.

Way forward

• Enact the Pesticide Management Bill, 2020. It bars registration without an FSS Act MRL and creates a Central Pesticides Board to monitor residues in food [5].
• Publish the residue and exposure data behind the final limits, and fund residue testing in tea-growing states.

Science-based MRLs connect the field to the cup only when registration, farm practice and testing work as one chain. Closing these gaps would advance the public-health duty under Article 47 while protecting growers' incomes and India's export credibility, in line with SDGs 2 and 3.