The European maximum quantity for the two substances mentioned above is to be reduced to the analytical limit of quantification. This has already happened for etoxazole and will happen very soon for bifenazate.
This also means that the two substances may no longer be used in hops cultivation in the EU (cf. EU regulation 2023/1783 (etoxazole) and EU regulation 2024/891 (bifenazate, in effect since April 11th 2024).
The situation is different in the USA, where the use of both substances in hops cultivation is still permitted. Nevertheless, this means that US hops with residues of bifenazate and etoxazole may no longer be used for the production of German beers.
Accordingly, beers produced from hops contaminated with etoxazole or bifenazate may no longer be sold in the EU after a period of 6 months after each of the two regulations comes into effect.
For etoxazole, this period already ended on April 8, 2024.
Beers made from hops contaminated with bifenazate will no longer be allowed to be sold from October 14, 2024.
PiCA GmbH has established a suitable, very sensitive method for detecting bifenazate residues in beer with a limit of quantification of 0.5 µg/kg (L).
The method is validated and accredited and also takes into account the co-regulated bifenazate metabolite bifenazate diazene. If you are interested in this analysis or have any other questions, please contact sales@pica-berlin.de.