UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460

OFFICE OF PREVENTION, PESTICIDES

AND TOXIC SUBSTANCES

July 10 , 2009

MEMOR ANDUM

SUBJECT : ChemSAC Review of the USDA IR

- 4 Crop Grouping Proposal to Amend

the Stone Fruit Crop Group 12, and Analysis of the USDA IR

- 4 Petition to Amend the Crop Group Regulation 40 CFR § 180.41 (c) (1 2 ) and Commodity Definitions [ 40 CFR § 180.1 (g ) ]

.

FROM : Bernard A. Schneider, Ph.D., Senior Plant Physiologist

Chemistry and Exposure Branch Health Effects Division (7509P)

TO : William Donovan, Ph.D. and Michael Doherty , Ph.D.,

Chairpersons ChemSAC and Members Jennifer Selwyn, PMRA

Marco Co tero, Mexico Barbara Madden, Minor Use Officer , RD (7505P)

R ame Cromwell, FEAD (750 6P )

BACKGROUND :

The current Crop Group 12, Stone Fruits group published in 40 CFR 180.41 (13)

includes eleven commodity entries in the botanical family of Rosaceae

. Sweet or tart cherry, peach, and plum or fresh prune were selected as representative commodities for this group. There have been 54 group tolerances established on stone fruits crop group based on the residue data generated from the representative crops.2

Since this crop group was established in 1995, more species and varieties of stone fruits have become popular in commercial production or trade and are currently “orphan”

crops

. Jujube while not in the Rosaceae family contains a single seed with a ha rd shell. The morphology of this crop resembles some stone fruits such as cherries and small varieties of plums as it has large canopies shading the small sized fruits, and should be similar to the stone fruits in terms of residue exposure. S ome other “m inor orphan” stone fruit commodities have become more popular in some countries and areas today than they

were 10 years ago, such as the Klamath plum

. Increased globalization of cooking in the United States has resulted in different fruits to be enjoyed i n everything from sorbets to

salsas. Adding these commodities to the EPA stone fruits group will benefit the growers by enabling tools for crop protection

. Some other species or varieties/cultivars of stone fruits are also added in the proposed stone fru its group, including the Japanese apricot. The Japanese apricot is a popular fruit in Asia, and its commercial products such as preserved Ume or Ume juice are already being sold in American markets. In the Japanese crop grouping system, Japanese apricot ( Ume ) is grouped with Japanese plum (sumomo) and apricot (andzu) as "small sized stone fruits."

T he world total hectares for apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums have increased from 3,583,597 hectares (ha) in 1997 to 4,717,647 ha in 2007, and the total production of these fruits has increased from 23,525,883 metric tons in 1997 to 32,123,241 metric tons

in 2007

. Some of these fruits don’t have large commercial production, and thus have

little chance to develop an integrated pest control program (IPM) un less they are added to pest control products labels and placed in the stone fruit group. Some of these “minor” stone fruits have great potential to be grown on a larger scale in some areas in the future due to their unique nutritional and medicinal values . Being excluded from the crop groups, means that tolerances requested for these commodities would have to be established based on separate residue studies. Without a doubt the inclusion of these commodities in crop groups will benefit growers, consumers , save time and tax payer’s money on residue studies, save government agencies time in reviewing residue data, as well as facilitating the establishment of import tolerances.

This petition proposes “Stone fruits Group 12” with 22 commodity entries, among

these 21 are in the botanical family of Rosaceae and one in the family of Rhamnaceae. Compared with many other crop groups, most commodities in this group are closely related and all the commodities share similar morphological and cultural characteristic s. The 11 commodities in the proposed crop group are temperate season perennial trees grown for edible fruits. The fact that these fruits are in the same botanical family with similar biological and cultural aspects suggests they should also encounter si milar pest problems and hence have similar needs for pest control products in similar use patterns. Commodities and their varieties and/or hybrid s proposed in this group include all the commodities in the Codex Classification of Stone Fruits Group and EU Crop List of Stone Fruits Group. The r epresentative commodities in the existing EPA Stone Fruits Group, s weet or tart cherry, peach, and plum or fresh prune have been recommended by the Workgroup to continue to be representative commodities for the propos ed new group.

The new Stone Fruits Group and the representative commodities proposed in this petition

would facilitate the harmonization of the U.S. and the Codex crop classification systems.3

Currently there are two Commodity Definitions for stone frui ts published in the 40 CFR 180 (1) (g), for “Cherry and Peach.” To facilitate residue data generation and tolerance establishment on small and large varieties of stone fruits, two subgroups are proposed in this proposal for the stone fruits group, as the Peach subgroup and the Cherry subgroup. Peach subgroup includes medium to large fruits including peaches, nectarines, plums, and jujube; and the Cherry subgroup includes the smaller stone fruits, the cherries. By proposing the two subgroups the two commo dity definitions could be deleted from the regulation.

The Crop Group 12 proposal was generated at the USDA/IR

- 4 Crop Grouping Symposium in Washington, DC, October 2002 by the Temperate Tree and Small Fruit Workgroup Chaired by Van Starner of USDA, IR

- 4 and Co

- Chaired by Craig Hunter, Canadian Horticultural Center, Rick Melnicoe, University of California Department of Environmental Toxicology, Dr. Richard Loranger and Chris Olinger, EPA, HED and John Wise, Michigan State University . It was further discus sed and developed within the Stone fruits Workgroup of the ICGCC. This workgroup consists of over 200 crop or regulatory experts from the US, and NAFTA, EU, Asia, Middle E ast, and Latin America Regions representing over 40 countries. The Workgroup discus sed and validated each of the proposed commodities and representative commodities.

Another important aspect is the harmonization with the Codex crop classification. The Codex Classification of foods and animal feeds for Stone Fruit Group is also undergo ing revision. The IR

- 4/EPA Crop Grouping Working Group and the International Crop Grouping Consulting Committee (ICGCC) are making every effort to collaborate with the revision of the Codex crop classification. The expanded Stone Fruit Group and the repr esentative commodities proposed in this petition would facilitate the harmonization of the U.S. and the Codex crop classification systems.

The classical definition of a stone fruit is a group of crops belonging to the genus

Prunus

, which have the fruit type called a drupe such as the peach, plum, cherry, and apricot. Given th is fact most commodities included in this group are from the same botanical family and genus

, and that they are similar in plant morphology and cultural methods. They are widely g rown in temperate and some in subtropical regions, and are among the most popular fruits in the market place

.

REQUEST :

Dr Hong Chen, Crop Grouping Project Coordinator, USDA Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR

- 4), State Agricultural Experiment Stat ion, Rutgers University has submitted a petition (January 8, 2007) on behalf of the IR

- 4 Project, and the Stone Fruits Workgroup of the International Crop Grouping Consulting Committee (ICGCC) to amend the Crop Group Regulation 40 CFR § 180.41 (c) (13) Cro p Group 12, Stone Fruits Group, and propose deletion of Commodity Definitions 40 CFR 180.1 (g) for cherries and peaches.4

Four proposals to amend the Stone fruit group that were submitted by USDA IR

- 4 were analyzed by Dr. Bernard A. Schneider, EPA and t he complete analysis and report is available as a separate attachment. A comparison of the current Stone fruit group with the proposed amended group is shown in Table 1 of this memo and for the proposed crop subgroups in Table 2 . Each of the specific pro posals will be listed below and HED

recommendations and conclusions as well as other HED recommendations on terminology, database development, and harmonization with Codex.

HED ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS :

The EPA would like to commend the valuable a nd high quality input of the ICGCC, all its members, and the Committee Chairperson Dr Hong Chen and Bill Barney,

USDA IR

- 4, as well as Dr. Yuen

- Shaung Ng, Biologist, HED, Doug Dotson, Chemist and Jessie Cordova, HED Information Technical Specialist, Susan Stanton, Roger Chesser and Laura Nollen, Biologists, RD, EPA for their input and development of various databases in this report and Dr. Paul Schwartz, USDA, Office of Minor Use Pesticides for his advice and peer review.

IR

- 4 Proposal 1:

1. “ Amend the existing crop group in 40 CFR 180.41 (c) (12) that consists of the following eleven commodity entries:

1. Apricot, Prunus armeniaca L. ( Rosaceae )

2. Cherry, sweet, Prunus avium (L.) L. ( Rosaceae )

3. Cherry

, tart

, Prunus cerasus L. ( Rosacea e)

4. Nectarine

, P. persica var. nucipersica (Suckow) C.K. Schneid. ( Rosaceae )

5. Peach

, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch var. persica ( Rosaceae )

6. Plum

, Prunus domestica L. ssp. domestica ( Rosaceae )

7. Plum

, Chickasaw

, Prunus angustifolia Marshall ( Rosaceae )

8. Plum, Damson, Prunus domestica spp. i nsititia (L.) C.K. Schneid. ( Rosaceae )

9. Plum

, Japanese

, Prunus salicina Lindl. ( Rosaceae )

10. Plumcot

, Prunus domestica L. x P. armeniaca L. ( Rosaceae )

11. Prune (fresh)

, Prunus domestica L. ssp. Domestica ( Rosaceae )

To an expanded crop group that consists of foll owing 22 commodity entries : 1. Apricot, Prunus armeniaca L. ( Rosaceae )

2. Apricot, Japanese, Prunus mume Siebold & Zucc. ( Rosaceae )

3. Capulin

, Prunus serotina Ehrh. subsp. capuli (Cav.) McVaugh ( Rosaceae )

4. Cherry

, black

, Prunus serotina Ehrh. ssp. serotina ( Rosace ae )

5. Cherry

, Nanking

, Prunus tomentosa Thunb. ( Rosaceae )

6. Cherry, sweet, Prunus avium (L.) L. ( Rosaceae )

7. Cherry/tart

, Prunus cerasus L. ( Rosaceae )5

8. Choke cherry

, Prunus virginiana ( Rosaceae )

9. Jujube, Ziziphus jujube Mill. ( Rhamnaceae )

10. Plum, Klamath

, Prunus sub cordata Benth. ( Rosaceae)

11. Nectarine

, Prunus persica var. nucipersica (Suckow) C.K. Schneid. ( Rosaceae )

12. Peach

, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch var. persica ( Rosaceae )

13. Plum

, Prunus domestica L. ssp. domestica ( Rosaceae )

14. Plum

, American

, Prunus americana Marshall ( Rosaceae )

15. Plum, beach, Prunus maritime Marshall ( Rosaceae )

16. Plum

, cherry

, Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. ( Rosaceae )

17. Plum , C hickasaw

, Prunus angustifolia Marshall ( Rosaceae )

18. Plum, Damson, Prunus domestica spp. insititia (L.) C.K. Schneid. ( Rosaceae )

19. Plum

, Japanese

, Prunus salicina Lindl. ( Rosaceae )

20. Plumcot

, Prunus domestica L. x P. armeniaca L. ( Rosaceae )

21. Prune (fresh)

, Prunus domestica L. ssp. Domestica ( Rosaceae )

22. Sloe

, Prunus spinosa L. ( Rosaceae )

And all edible varieties and/or hybrid s of Prunus species and Zizip hus species.”

HED Recommendation for IR

- 4 Proposal 1:

Based on similarities and characteristics of the Rosaceae or Rose family which includes all the proposed members to the Stone Fruit Crop Group 12, as well as a comparison of stone fruits, cultural p ractices, edible food and animal feed portions, residue levels, geographical location, pest problems, established tolerances, and for international harmonization purposes, I recommend that ChemSAC concur to amend the Stone Fruit Crop Group 12 from eleven c ommodities to twenty

- two commodities.

While USDA IR

- 4 also recommended adding jujube to the Stone fruit group, however, after analysis of this crop, I recommend ChemSAC concur not to add this commodity to this crop group. Jujube is in a different plant family ( Rhamnaceae instead

of Rosaceae) than all the other stone fruits. It is more adaptable to be added to a new proposed tropical fruit edible peel crop group that IR

- 4 will be recommending later this year. Research into these commodities also showed that the Canada plum ( Prunus nigra) has had recent improved varieties for ornamental and edible fruit use; therefore I am recommending including Canada plum as a commodity in the revised Stone fruit group 12. There were also two crop subgroups proposed by IR

- 4 for this crop group which will

be discussed in IR

- 4 Proposal 3

.6

The scientific names of the twenty

- two commodities were also updated and are

listed below.

“HED Corrected Proposed Stone Fruit Crop Group 12

- 09”.

Commodities Apricot, Pru nus armeniaca L. Apricot, Japanese, Prunus mume Siebold & Zucc. Capulin

, Prunus serotina Ehrh. subsp. capuli (Cav.) McVaugh Cherry

, black

, Prunus serotina Ehrh. ssp. serotina Cherry

, Nanking

, Prunus tomentosa Thunb Cherry, sweet, Prunus avium (L.) L Cherry, tart

, Prunus cerasus L. Chokecherry

, Prunus virginiana L.

Nectarine

, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch var. nucipersica (Suckow) C.K. Schneid.

Peach

, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch var. persica

Plum

, Prunus domestica L. subsp. domestica

Plum

, American

, Prunus americana Marshall
Plum, beach, Prunus maritima Marshall
Plum, Canada, Prunus nigra Aiton

Plum

, cherry

, Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.

Plum , C hickasaw

, Prunus angustifolia Marshall
Plum, Damson, Prunus domestica L

. subsp. insititia (L.) C.K. Schneid

. Plum

, Japanese

, Prunus salicina Lindl.
Plum, Klamath, Prunus subcordata Benth Plum, prune

, Prunus domestica L. subsp. d omestica

Plumcot

, Prunus hybr.

Sloe

, Prunus spinosa L Cultivars, varieties, and hybrids of these commodities.

Additional notes :

 HED also recommends changing the preferred commodity name for Prune (fresh) to Plum, prune, since this is the preferred tolerance commodity term used in the EPA Food and Feed Commodity Vocabulary ( http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/foodfeed ) for several yea rs and is more accurate description of the commodity. The crop name is Prune plum.

 HED also recommends that in the crop group table the term “ varieties and/or hybrids of these” should be changed to, “Cultivars, varieties, and hybrids, of these

commodities ” to avoid all confusion with terminology regarding whether they are cultivars, varieties, or hybrids of the any stone fruit commodities.

IR

- 4 Proposal 2 :

2. “The following commodities, Sweet or tart cherry, peach, and plum or fresh prune

, should remai n as representative commodities for the expanded group.”7

HED Recommendation for Proposal 2:

I recommend ChemSAC concur to retain Sweet or tart cherry, peach, and plum or fresh prune , as representative commodities for the amended Stone Fruit Crop Group 1 2. These representative commodities account for > 99 % of the harvested acres for the members of the amended Stone Fruit Group. The representative commodities are based on similarities in fruit and cultural practices and geographical locations, as well a s their high production (both acres and yield) and consumption. A comparison of established tolerances on stone fruit commodities also supports that residue levels will be similar between members of the crop group. The commodity fr esh prune will become p rune plum to conform to new EPA Food and Feed Commodity Vocabulary terminology.

IR

- 4 Proposal 3:

3. Establish two new subgroups under the Stone fruit crop group as follows:”

1). Subgroup 12

- A: Peach subgroup. Representative commodity: Peach, and Plum o r Fresh prune

.

Sixteen commodities included in this subgroup are: American plum; Apricot; Beach plum; Cherry plum; Chickasaw plum; Damson plum; Japanese apricot; Japanese plum; Jujube; Klamath plum; Nectarine; Peach; Plum; Plumcot; Prune (fresh), and Slo e

.

2). Subgroup 12

- B: Cherry subgroup. Representative commodity: Sweet or Tart cherry

.

Six commodities included in this subgroup are: Capulin; Cherry, black; Cherry, Nanking; Cherry, sweet; Cherry, tart; and Chokecherry.

HED Recommendation for Propo sal 3 :

I recommend that instead of the two subgroups proposed by IR

- 4 that a third subgroup be established, in order to harmonize with Codex. These would be similar to the two proposed by IR

- 4 and a third which will separate the proposed Peach subgroup into a Peach and a separate Plum Subgroup. The representative commodities for the proposed Peach subgroup is peach and a plum or fresh prune. Since we are recommending a Plum subgroup the representative commodity for the Peach subgroup would be peach and the representative commodity for the Plum subgroup would be plum or prune plum. Since hybrids between plums and apricots have been produced recently which are said to have improved quality than either parent it is logical to also place apricots in the Pl um subgroup.8

I also recommend that ChemSAC approve the Cherry subgroup ; the Peach subgroup; and the Plum subgroup . The representative commodities for the subgroups are the same as recommended for the Crop group. Jujube will not be a member of this cro p group or subgroups and will be included in a future Tropical fruit edible peel crop group, since it shares more similarities to tropical and subtropical fruits.

The three recommended subgroups will be as follows:

Cherry subgroup 12A: Representative commodity: Sweet cherry or Tart cherry

.

Six commodities proposed in this subgroup are: Black cherry; Capulin; Nanking cherry; Sweet cherry; Tart cherry; and Chokecherry.

Peach subgroup 12B: Representative commodity: Peach

.

Two commodities proposed in this subgroup are: Nectarine and Peach.

Plum subgroup 12C: Representative commodity: Plum or Prune plum.

Fourteen commodities proposed in this subgroup are: American plum; Apricot; Klamath plum; Beach plum ; Canada plum; Cherry plum; Chickasaw plum; Damson plum; Japanese apricot; Japanese plum; Plum; Plumcot; Prune plum; and Sloe

.

IR

- 4 Proposal 4:

4. “Deleting two Definitions, Cherries (tart or sour cherries and sweet cherries) and Peaches (peaches, nectarines) from 40 CFR 180.1 (g).”

HED Recomme ndation for Proposal 4 Commodity Definition for Peaches and

Cherries:

I also recommend at this time not to delet e the Peach and Cherry commodity definitions under 40 CFR Part 180.1(g) even though they will be similar to the members in the proposed Peach subgroup 12A and the Cherry subgroup 12B, respectively. The reason is that under the current commodity definition for peach it also covers nectarines

and if the definition were deleted there would be no tolerances for nectarines. For several years we hav e been recommending for separate tolerances for sweet and tart cherries, but there are still several established tolerances just for cherry. Therefore, we recommend not revising the Peach and cherry commodity definitions. They will however, appear in

the CFR not as Peaches or cherries but as peach and cherry.9

Additional HED Recommendations/Conclusions:

HED Recommendation 5:

Another important aspect of crop grouping is the harmonization effort with the

Codex Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds. The current EPA crop group for Stone fruit group 12 is very similar to the corresponding Codex Stone fruits (Crop Group 003). The Codex Group 003, Stone Fruits , consists of twenty

- one commodities including

matches to all the eleven commodities in the curr ent EPA crop group 12. The differences are several of the Codex commodities refer to another commodity such as “Plum, Japanese see Plums” whereas in the U.S. system Plum, Japanese is a distinct commodity. The twenty

- three Codex commodities really consist of ten distinct commodities with the rest being multiple entries, or varieties of cultivar of other commodities listed. The U.S. is proposing to add the following commodities: Beach plum; Black cherry; Capulin; Cherry plum; Chokecherry; Canada plum; Japa nese apricot; Klamath plum; and the Nanking cherry that are not yet in the Codex system. Several Codex names are equivalent to lookup terms in the EPA Food and Feed Commodity Vocabulary like bullace is plum, and morello is cherry, tart. Jujube in the Cod ex system is placed in their “Assorted tropical and subtropical fruit

– edible peel” group and EPA is also proposing to place jujube in a future Tropical fruit

– edible peel group

. Note that the current Codex crop group does not have representative commod ities. A revision of the Codex Classification is underway with consideration to include adding new commodities, creating subgroups, and selecting representative commodities.

HED Recommendation 6:

Guidance for HED SOP 99.6

- “Clas sification of Food Forms with Respect to Level of Blending” issued August 20, 1999, and HED SOP 2000.1

– “ Guidance for Translation of Field Trial Data from Representative Commodities in the Crop Group Regulation to Other Commodities i n Each Crop Group/Subgroup” issued September 12, 2000 can be updated to reflect the amendment to the Stone fruit group 12.

HED Recommendation 7:

The Health Effects Division Dry Matter Database prepared by Dr’s. Yuen

- Shaung

NG and B. A. Schneider will b e updated to include the additional commodities for the Stone Fruit Group.

HED Recommendation 8:

Guidance on expressing tolerance terminology for the Stone fruit crop group 12 is discussed under the “Tolerance expression guidance section of this analysi s.10

HED Recommendation 9:

New lookup and preferred EPA terms for the members of the Stone Fruit Crop Group are listed in the EPA Food and Feed Commodity Vocabulary section of this report and these terms should be added to the updated EPA Food and Feed C ommodity Vocabulary website ( http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/foodfeed )

.

APPENDIX:

Table 1. EPA Crop Group Proposals Comparison: Current Established Stone Fruits Crop Group 12 with the Proposed Amendments to the Stone Fruit Group 12.

Regulation Current St one Fruits Crop Group 12 (May 17, 1995). Proposed Stone Fruit Crop Group 12 for ChemSAC Approval (8/09).

Name of the Crop Group Stone F ruits C rop G roup 12. Stone F ruit Crop Group 12

- 09 or 12

- 10.

Representative Crops Three:

Sweet cherry or tart cherry

Pea ch and Plum or fresh prune Three: Sweet cherry or tart cherry

Peach and Plum or Prune plum Subgroups None Three subgroups: Cherry subgroup 12

- 09A; Peach subgroup 12

- 09B; Plum subgroup 12

- 09C.

Commodities

included (11)

– Apricot; Cherry,

sweet; Cherry

, tart; Nectarine; Peach; P lum;

Plum

, Chickasaw; Plum,
Damson; Plum

, Japanese; Plumcot; Prune (fresh) (22)

– Apricot; Apricot, Japanese; Capulin; Cherry

, black; Cherry

, Nanking; Cherry,

sweet; Cherry/tart; Choke cherry; Jujube*, Nectarine; Peach ,; Plum; Plum

, American;

Pl um, beach; Plum, Canada**; Plum

, cherry;

Plum , C hickasaw; Plum, Damson; Plum

, Japanese; Plum, Klamath; Plumcot; Plum,

prune; Sloe; and cultivars, varieties, and/or hybrid s of these

. Commodity

Definitions 180.1(g). Two:

Cherries;

Peaches Two : Cherry;

Peach

 * Jujube was a proposed commodity by ICGCC rejected by EPA better to place in the proposed Tropical fruit edible peel crop group.

 ** Canada plum added by EPA.11

Table 2. Comparison of Proposed and HED Recommendations for Crop Su bgroups

12 A, 12 B, and 12 C

.

. IR

- 4 Proposed Crop Subgroup (Representative Commodity) HED

Recommendation Crop Subgroup (Representative Commodity) IR

- 4 Proposed

Members of the Subgroup HED Recommendation Crop Subgroup

Member s

Cherry subgroup

12A ( representa tive commodity: Cherry, sweet or Cherry, tart ) : Cherry subgroup 12A

( representative commodity: Cherry, sweet or Cherry, tart ) (6) Capulin; Cherry

, black; Cherry

, Nanking; Cherry,

sweet; Cherry/tart ; and Chokecherry. (6) Capulin; Cherry

,

black; Cherry

, Nan king; Cherry, sweet; Cherry, tart; and Chokecherry

and cultivars, varieties, and/or hybrid s of these

. Peach subgroup

12B (representative commodity: Peach, and Plum or Fresh prune

. ) Peach subgroup 12B

(representative commodity: Peach) (16) Apricot; Aprico t,

Japanese; Choke cherry; Jujube*, Nectarine;

Peach ,; Plum; Plum

, American; Pl um, beach;

Plum

, cherry; Plum

, C hickasaw; Plum,
Damson; Plum

, Japanese; Plum, Klamath; Plumcot; Plum, prune; Sloe; (2) Peach, Nectarine, and cultivars, varieties, or hybrids of these.

Plum subgroup 12C (representative commodity: Plum or Prune plum). No Plum subgroup was proposed in the

USDA IR

- 4 petition. (14) Apricot; Apricot,

Japanese; Plum; Plum

, American; Pl um, beach; Plum, Canada**; Plum

, cherry; Plum

, C hickasaw; Plum,

Dam son; Plum

, Japanese; Plum, Klamath; Plumcot; Plum, prune; Sloe; and cultivars, varieties, and/or hybrid s of these.

 * Jujube was a proposed commodity by ICGCC rejected by EPA better to place in the proposed Tropical fruit edible peel crop group

.

 ** Canada plum added by EPA.