New residue limits for Indian meat and milk

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in August amended its Food Safety and Standards Regulations from 2011 to include new tolerance limits for 103 antibiotics and other veterinary drugs in meat, poultry, fish and milk.

The new provisions specify tolerance limits for 76 prohibited antibiotics at 0.01 mg/kg.

The amendment also includes revisions to the prohibited list of antibiotics and veterinary drugs in meat, poultry and eggs, and seafood.

The list includes nitrofurans, chloramphenicol, metronidazole, carbadox and others. The maximum residue limit is for all drugs on the list except chloramphenicol, where the limit is 0.0003 mg/kg.

Food business operators will need to comply with the new provisions by Jan 1, 2019.