Science & Technology 1400 Independence Ave, SW

Monitoring Programs Division Room 0611, Stop 0276

Washington, DC 20250

PDP July 2019 through September 2019 Program Plan, v1.0 Page 1

May 14, 2019

TO: See Distribution List

FROM: Brenda Foos

Director, Monitoring Programs Division

 

SUBJECT: Program Plan, July 2019 through September 2019 – Pesticide Data 

Program, Version 1.0

This Program Plan serves as the current Statement of Work for the period July 2019 

through September 2019 for each of the States participating in the Pesticide Data 

Program (PDP). The contents of the Plan have been discussed with the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 

(FDA).

As the new Monitoring Programs Division (MPD) Director, I would like to take this 

opportunity to thank you all for your collaboration with PDP and your patience with me 

as I learn the program. I look forward to working with each of you on the activities 

described in this Program Plan.

I. ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATES

A. Summary Status: 

The 2017 PDP Annual Summary was posted to the PDP website December 8, 2018. 

Printed copies were sent out April 8, 2019, and additional copies are available by

contacting MPD.

B. Cooperative Agreements/Financial: 

Final Cooperative Agreements for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 have been issued to all PDP 

participating States. States shall spend their full financial allotment prior to their 2019 

agreement end date. 

C. Program Meetings:

PDP Federal/State Meeting:

The PDP 2018 Federal/State Meeting was delayed from the tentatively scheduled 

April/May 2019 in Tallahassee, Florida due to the government shutdown and delayed 

arrival of the new MPD director. Florida is interested in hosting the PDP meeting in the 

spring of 2020. Attendees will include PDP Administrative Managers, Sampling 
PDP July 2019 through September 2019 Program Plan, v1.0 Page 2

Managers, Technical Program Managers, and Quality Assurance Officers, as well as 

representatives from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 

USDA, EPA, FDA, and industry.

D. Advisory Committees:

Sampling Advisory Group: Members of the Sampling Advisory Group (SAG) are Don 

Gallegos (Colorado), Nathan Chambers (Washington) and Barbara Sparkman (Texas). 

Don Gallegos serves as the Presiding Member of the SAG.

Technical Advisory Group: Members of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) are Gail 

Parker (Florida), Hugh Robinson (Texas) and Frank Barretta (Michigan). Gail Parker 

serves as the Presiding Member of the TAG.

E. PDP Fiscal Year 2019 Proficiency Testing Program: The PDP FY2019

Proficiency Testing (PT) program schedule (v 1.0) is posted on the PDP Extranet site.

Refer to SOPs PDP-ADMIN and PDP-QC for PT program requirements, reporting 

procedures, acceptability criteria, and requirements for potential follow-up actions.

F. Standard Operating Procedures:

SOPs to be Released July 1, 2019

• PDP-ADMIN: Administrative Procedures for the Pesticide Data Program

SOPs to be Released September 1, 2019

• PDP-QC: Chemical Compounds, PDP Commodity Grouping, Method Validation 

and Quality Control

G. Electronic Transfer of Data

RDE Version Upgrades:

The Monitoring Programs Division (MPD) staff has nearly completed development of a 

new, local/distributed RDE application using MS-Access that will be installed at each 

participating laboratory. This system will replace the Web-based RDE system used by 

participating laboratories. The Web-RDE system uses outdated software components that 

are no longer supported and does not allow easy fixes or modifications. 

The new local RDE system will allow easy implementation of changes to table structures 

to expand field sizes, add new fields, or even add new data tables. Transfer of completed 

datasets will be handled by e-mail or posting to the PDP Extranet site. The target 

completion date for the new local RDE system is June 2019. The target retirement date 

for the Web-RDE system is by October 2019. 

The e-SIF Clearinghouse system is rolling-back all e-SIFs to the old (V4.1) format when 

the e-SIF text files are generated for import to Web-RDE and delivery to labs. Sample 
PDP July 2019 through September 2019 Program Plan, v1.0 Page 3

data that were left off the rolled-back e-SIF are being restored when the group/set holding 

the sample is uploaded from RDE into the central PDP calendar-year database at MPD. 

Once a lab is ready to use the new local RDE application, e-SIFs in the new (V5.0) 

format will be sent. All State samplers are now using RDE e-SIF V5.0, which makes the 

data review process at the receiving labs easier and faster.

H. Presumptive Tolerance Violation Reporting

Data for Presumptive Tolerance Violations (PTVs) are communicated to FDA and EPA 

on a monthly basis. FDA utilizes the PTV reports in choosing commodities that require 

extra sampling. EPA uses the data for dietary risk assessments and pesticide 

reregistration decisions. MPD is also providing the data to USDA’s Office of Pest 

Management Policy (OPMP) for communication to grower groups, the Foreign 

Agricultural Service (FAS) to assist in facilitating the export of domestic commodities, 

and the National Organic Program (NOP) to inform them of any potential PTVs detected 

on claimed organic samples. PDP States may request a copy of the monthly PTV report 

by contacting MPD.

An updated tolerance table will be emailed in July 2019 containing tolerances for all 

commodities in the program at this time including those that enter the program in July 

2019. The table shows tolerances (and FDA action levels for organochlorines) for 

pesticides on all current and upcoming PDP commodities. With almost 700 pesticides 

and metabolites, there is information for over 10,000 pesticide/commodity pairings. This 

table includes permanent, interim, regional, and section 18 emergency tolerances as 

stated in the electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) or the Informa Agrow 

Pesticide Chemical News Guide (PCNG), online version. Blank spaces in the table 

indicate that no tolerance is established or referenced in the PCNG or the eCFR, part 40, 

section 180.

II. PROGRAM SAMPLING AND TESTING UPDATES

A. Sampling Changes and Rotations: Shipping charts are distributed quarterly to 

Sampling Managers by MPD. The Draft shipping Chart for the 3rd quarter of calendar 

year 2019 is attached to this document. Actual shipping dates and fact sheets will be

issued under separate cover.

Sampling Deletions

Asparagus collection ends June 30, 2019.

Cabbage collection ends June 30, 2019.

Sampling Additions
PDP July 2019 through September 2019 Program Plan, v1.0 Page 4

Bell Peppers will be added July 1, 2019. Bell Peppers will remain in the program for two 

years. All samples will be shipped to the Florida (FL1) laboratory. Refer to the current 

commodity fact sheet for sample selection, packaging, and shipping guidelines.

Cantaloupe will be added July 1, 2019. Cantaloupe will remain in the program for two 

years. All samples will be shipped to the Washington (WA1) laboratory. Refer to the 

current commodity fact sheet for sample selection, packaging, and shipping guidelines. 

Sampling Continuations

Bananas, basil, garbanzo beans (dried), hot peppers, kiwi, mustard greens, oats, peas 

(canned), radish, rice, spinach (canned) and strawberries (frozen) continue to be sampled. 

Basil, peas (canned), rice, spinach (canned), and strawberries (frozen) end September 30, 

2019.

PDP Sampling Commodity Counts

January 1, 2019 through March 31, 2019 = 14 commodities

• Remove green onion, kale, peach (canned), raisin, snap peas and wheat flour

• Add radishes, hot peppers, mustard greens, dried garbanzo beans, bananas and 

oats

April 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019 = 14 commodities

• Remove cilantro

• Add basil

• Change from frozen peas and frozen spinach to canned peas and canned spinach

July 1, 2019 through September 30, 2019 = 14 commodities

• Remove asparagus and cabbage

• Add bell peppers and cantaloupe

B. Testing Deletions and Changes:

Testing Deletions

Asparagus collection ends June 30, 2019. This ends multi residue testing of asparagus 

by the Washington (WA1) laboratory.

Cabbage collection ends June 30, 2019. This ends multi residue testing of cabbage by 

the Florida (FL1) laboratory.

Testing Additions

Bell Peppers will be added July 1, 2019. Bell peppers will remain in the program for two 

years. Multi residue testing will be performed by the Florida (FL1) laboratory. 
PDP July 2019 through September 2019 Program Plan, v1.0 Page 5

Commodity specific requirements regarding analytes of interest are listed in the 

memorandum posted to the PDP Extranet site.

Cantaloupe will be added July 1, 2019. Cantaloupe will remain in the program for two 

years. Multi residue testing will be performed by the Washington (WA1) laboratory. 

Commodity specific requirements regarding analytes of interest are listed in the 

memorandum posted to the PDP Extranet site.

Testing Continuations

Bananas, basil, garbanzo beans (dried), hot peppers, kiwi, mustard greens, oats, peas 

(canned), radish, rice, spinach (canned) and strawberries (frozen) continue to be sampled. 

Basil, peas (canned), rice, spinach (canned), and strawberries (frozen) end September 30, 

2019.

C. Web Site for PDP Information:

For Pesticide Data Program information check out our Internet Web Site:

http://www.ams.usda.gov/pdp

Attachment
PDP July 2019 through September 2019 Program Plan, v1.0 Page 6

DISTRIBUTION LIST:

CDPR Debra Kloss

CDFA Barzin Moradi

Tiffany Tu

Stacy Aylesworth

Sarva Gunjur

Colorado Don Gallegos

Florida Matthew Curran

Diane Pickett

Ray Allum

Gail Parker

Empress Suffold 

Maryland Tom Phillips

Ken McManus

Phil Davidson

Michigan Craig VanBuren

Jessica Pruett 

Frank Barretta

Brian Regan

New York Maria Ishida

Debbie Oglesby

Karen Stephani

Saeed Akhtar

Joscelyn Moseley

North Carolina Teresa Grant

Ronald Willett

Stephanie Moore

Ohio Beverly Byrum

Mohammed Amin

Lucy Kaminski

Jessica Tostrick

Jodi Taylor 

Peter McDonough

Texas Michael Kelly

Pat Bizzell

Hugh Robinson

Dannis Tamplin

Barbara Sparkman

Washington Brad White

Mike Firman

Brittany Holmes

Nathan Chambers

Stormy Townsend

Qingfen Gu

NSL Kerry Smith

Roger Simonds

Jonathan Barber

Marie Denski

Karen Halmo

S&T Ruihong Guo

FAS Mark Rasmussen 

Mayra Caldera

Julie Chao

NASS Peter Quan

Franklin Duan

NOP Betsy Rakola

OPMP Sheryl Kunickis

EPA/ACL Thuy Nguyen

EPA/HED David Hrdy

David Miller

FDA Chris Sack 

Sarah McGrath

Charlotte Liang