ANSWER

In the Philippines there are two national regulations covering food irradiation:

1. Prescribing Regulations of Irradiated Food: Department of Health (DOH) Administrative Order (AO) No. 152 Series of 2004; and

2. Rules and Regulations for the Importation, Exportation and Domestic Movement of Irradiated Plant and Plant Products and the Use of Irradiation as a Phytosanitary Treatment: Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Quarantine AO No. 02 Series of 2008.

In addition, the Philippines National Standard issued a Code of Hygienic Practice for Spices and Dried Aromatic Herbs (attached). It states that “Factors that should be controlled when using fumigation treatments such as ETO (ethylene oxide) or PPO (propylene oxide) include chemical concentration, exposure time, vacuum, and/or pressure, density of the product, and gas permeability of the packaging material. The process should ensure that all of the products are directly exposed to the gas for the full length of time required.”

ETO and PPO are not listed in the FDA Philippines Regulatory Guidelines Concerning Food Additives 1984 (AO No. 88-A s 1984), Philippines pesticide platform and other documents related to food additives, nor the information related to maximum limits of residues.

According to the US FDA, ETO and PPO are also categorized under Food Additive Status List. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee has informed that the currently achievable detection limit for ETO is well below the specified purity criteria of 0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg (European Comission, 2002). The estimated acceptable daily intake (ADI) of PPO is 0-0.04 mg/kg bw and the estimate of acute reference dose (ARfD) is 0.04 mg/kg bw (FAO, 2017).

References

FAO. (2017). Toxicology: Propylene oxide (250).

Republic of the Philippines Department of Agriculture. (2015). Philippine National Standard – Code of Hygienic Practice for Radiation Processing of Food.

Republic of the Philippines Department of Agriculture. (2008). Rules and Regulations for the Importation, Exportation and Domestic Movement of Irradiated Plant and Plant Products and the Use of Irradiation as a Phytosanitary Treatment (Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Quarantine AO No. 02 Series of 2008).

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health. (2004). Prescribing Regulations of Irradiated Food (AO No. 152 s. 2004).

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health. (1984). Regulatory Guidelines Concerning Food Additives 1984 (AO No. 88-A s 1984).

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2018). Food Additive Status List.

European Commission. (2002). Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on impurities of ethylene oxide in food additives.