What is the global regulatory standard designed to set safe lifetime residue intake levels?
Maximum Residue Limit (MRL).
The Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) functions as the primary regulatory benchmark established globally to govern the acceptable level of pesticide residues found on or in food products. This standard is calculated with the intention of providing a significant safety margin, ensuring that an individual consuming the same contaminated food item every single day throughout their entire lifetime would not be expected to suffer adverse health effects due to the residue intake. While MRLs provide a baseline safety measure, there remains a debate among some researchers that these limits might not fully account for complex long-term effects or the toxicity resulting from consuming multiple different chemical residues simultaneously, often termed the 'cocktail effect'.
