China is making steady progress toward the goal of 10,000 statutory pesticide MRLs by the end of 2020 and animal-derived food and specialty agricultural products will be developed with more MRLs. In the future MRL system, how will China maintain its healthy trade of agricultural products and the supply of affordable and safe food for its citizens?

On 15 Aug 2019, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs and the State Administration of Market Regulation jointly issued the “GB 2763-2019 National Food Safety Standard: Maximum Residue Limits of Pesticides in Foods”, which will take effect on 15 Feb 2020. The one major new feature in this release is that the number of MRLs in GB 2763-2019 for the first time exceeds those developed by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC standard), the most universally recognized pesticide MRL standard in the world, marking another new step forward in food safety and agricultural trade. In this article, we will explain the evolution if this regulation and introduce its main features based on comparative analysis, sharing some prospects on the future trend of China's pesticide MRL regulation.