FSSAI Draft Fixes Pesticide Residue Limits for Tea

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has notified a draft amendment setting Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for two insecticides, Acetamiprid and Imidacloprid, in tea. The draft, titled the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2026, was published in the Gazette of India on 16 October 2026 and is open for comments from the trade and the public.

The limits proposed

An MRL is the highest concentration of a pesticide residue the law allows in a food, worked out from residue data, how much of that food people eat and the safety margin needed. Fixing one gives growers, factories, testing laboratories and inspectors a figure to measure against.

How India's figure compares

The proposed ceiling of 20 parts per million for Acetamiprid in tea is stricter than the limits in force in Japan and in the United States of America, which allow 30 and 50 parts per million respectively. The limit for Imidacloprid has been framed with reference to the international Codex standards.

The regulator's wider record

The authority places the proposal in a longer review of residue standards. The 2024 round of the same regulations revised a set of limits in the light of scientific data and practice abroad, and 13 pesticides judged to be of higher toxicity were struck off the approved list. India's own use of these chemicals is modest: less than half a kilogram per hectare on average, against a world average put at 2.38 kg per hectare, and below the levels reported from Colombia, Brazil and the United States. The authority says clear limits serve the tea sector by making monitoring consistent and giving buyers at home and abroad confidence in Indian tea, while farmers keep the crop protection they need against pests.