Code of Federal Regulations Title 21. Food and Drugs § 21.509.30 Temporary tolerances for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's)

(a) Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) are toxic, industrial chemicals. Because of their widespread, uncontrolled industrial applications, PCB's have become a persistent and ubiquitous contaminant in the environment. As a result, certain foods and animal feeds, principally those of animal and marine origin, contain PCB's as unavoidable, environmental contaminants. PCB's are transmitted to the food portion (meat, milk, and eggs) of food producing animals ingesting PCB contaminated animal feed. In addition, a significant percentage of paper food-packaging materials contain PCB's which may migrate to the packaged food. The source of PCB's in paper food-packaging materials is primarily of certain types of carbonless copy paper (containing 3 to 5 percent PCB's) in waste paper stocks used for manufacturing recycled paper. Therefore, temporary tolerances for residues of PCB's as unavoidable environmental or industrial contaminants are established for a sufficient period of time following the effective date of this paragraph to permit the elimination of such contaminants at the earliest practicable time. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) is applicable to mixtures of chlorinated biphenyl compounds, irrespective of which mixture of PCB's is present as the residue. The temporary tolerances for residues of PCB's are as follows:

(b) A compilation entitled “Analytical Methodology for Polychlorinated Biphenyls, February 1973” for determining compliance with the tolerances established in this section is available from the Division of Dockets Management, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.