Terry R. Hunt

The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996

The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), passed unanimously by Congress in 1996, represented landmark legislation that modernized food safety regulations relating to the presence of pesticides in food products. Prior to the passage of the FQPA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) struggled to reconcile conflicting provisions of the two major federal statutes pertaining to pesticides and food safety, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The FQPA provides a single standard for all pesticides in food that is based on health-oriented scientific research, makes special provisions for the protection of infants and children, provides expedited approval of pesticides that are safer to use in agriculture, promotes the development of an array of crop protection tools with the purpose of reducing the need for pesticides, and requires periodic reevaluation of the safety of pesticides.

The health-based standard for pesticides established by the FQPA requires that there be a "reasonable certainty of no harm" of any pesticide that is used in all food products. Prior to the FQPA, different standards applied to raw and processed foods. The single standard for all food products facilitates overview and enforcement of standards for amounts of pesticide in food. The FQPA requires that the setting of pesticide tolerances consider the special sensitivity of children to toxins and that it be explicitly determined that pesticide tolerances are safe for children. If there is insufficient data to determine a safe tolerance of a given pesticide for children, tolerances are to include a safety factor that is as much as 10 times greater for children than for adults.

Prior to the FQPA, the beneficial aspects of pesticide use could be weighed against the negative effects of the pesticide. The FQPA allows only a limited consideration of the benefits of a given pesticide. Under the FQPA, benefits may only be considered in assessing non-threshold effects such as increased cancer risk. For threshold effects, which are effects from a pesticide that occur when some quantity of exposure is reached, beneficial effects of a pesticide may not be considered when assessing tolerances. In addition, benefits may not be considered in determining the health-based standard for children. The FQPA requires that all pesticide tolerances be reviewed every 10 years. In addition, under the FQPA, pesticide manufacturers must provide certain data on their products, including potential effects on the endocrine system.

The Food and Drug administration may impose civil penalties of up to $50,000 on individuals and $250,000 on companies that place foods into the marketplace that exceed EPA-established pesticide tolerances. Brochures must be distributed in grocery stores that outline the various types and health effects of pesticides in food products and how to minimize risks. In addition, states are free under the FQPA to require food labeling on products that contain pesticides.