Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code Schedule 19 - contaminants and natural toxicants
Schedule 19 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code lists maximum levels for contaminants and natural toxicants in food. Standard 1.4.1 is the operative standard that applies those Schedule 19 limits to foods sold or prepared for sale in Australia and New Zealand. This page is the wiki routing target for literature that cites Standard 1.4.1 / Schedule 19 as the comparator for arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, tin, or aluminium in food.
The current Federal Register compilation at the time this page was created is F2024C00908, compilation No. 6, registered 21 October 2024 and in force from 13 September 2024. The Schedule 19 standard commenced on 1 March 2016.
Scope
Schedule 19 sets maximum levels for selected metal contaminants only where Food Standards Australia New Zealand has set a food-specific limit. The rule applies to the portion of a food ordinarily consumed. For dried, dehydrated, or concentrated foods other than seaweed and mercury-specific fish rules, calculations are based on the food or ingredients before drying, dehydration, or concentration unless Schedule 19 provides otherwise.
Exact limit and units
All values below are Schedule 19 maximum levels in mg/kg unless otherwise stated. This table is a selected metal-contaminant extract, not a substitute for the official Schedule 19 text.
| Contaminant | Food / matrix | Maximum level |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminium | Infant formula, follow-on formula, and special medical purpose product for infants other than preterm-infant products | 0.5 |
| Aluminium | Soy-based infant formula products | 1 |
| Aluminium | Special medical purpose product for preterm infants | 0.2 |
| Arsenic (total) | Cereal grains and milled cereal products except sweet corn | 1 |
| Arsenic (total) | Salt | 0.5 |
| Arsenic (total) | Crustacea | 2 |
| Arsenic (total) | Fish | 2 |
| Arsenic (total) | Molluscs | 1 |
| Arsenic (inorganic) | Seaweed | 1 |
| Cadmium | Meat of cattle, sheep, and pig, excluding offal | 0.05 |
| Cadmium | Kidney of cattle, sheep, and pig | 2.5 |
| Cadmium | Liver of cattle, sheep, and pig | 1.25 |
| Cadmium | Molluscs, excluding dredge/bluff oysters and queen scallops | 2 |
| Cadmium | Rice | 0.1 |
| Cadmium | Wheat | 0.1 |
| Cadmium | Root and tuber vegetables | 0.1 |
| Cadmium | Leafy vegetables | 0.1 |
| Cadmium | Peanuts | 0.5 |
| Cadmium | Chocolate and cocoa products | 0.5 |
| Lead | Infant formula products | 0.01 |
| Lead | Meat of cattle, sheep, pig, and poultry, excluding offal | 0.1 |
| Lead | Edible offal of cattle, sheep, pig, and poultry | 0.5 |
| Lead | Fish | 0.5 |
| Lead | Molluscs | 2 |
| Lead | Cereals except sweet corn, pulses, and legumes | 0.2 |
| Lead | Fruit | 0.1 |
| Lead | Vegetables except brassicas | 0.1 |
| Lead | Brassicas | 0.3 |
| Lead | Salt | 2 |
| Mercury | Gemfish, billfish including marlin, southern bluefin tuna, barramundi, ling, orange roughy, rays, and all shark species | mean 1.0; sample-unit maximum 1.5 where 10+ sample units and any unit exceeds 1.0 |
| Mercury | Other fish, fish products, crustacea, and molluscs | mean 0.5; sample-unit maximum 1.5 where 10+ sample units and any unit exceeds 1.0 |
| Mercury | Salt | 0.1 |
| Tin | All canned foods | 250 |
How tested
Schedule 19 sets the legal maximum levels and calculation rules; it does not prescribe a single analytical method for all metal contaminants. The rule includes sampling-unit logic for mercury in fish, crustacea, and molluscs. For fish lots, sample-unit counts scale from 10 to 40 based on lot size; for crustacea and molluscs, sample-unit counts scale from 10 to 30 based on lot size. If the specified number of sampling units is not available, five sample units are used. Dried or partially dried fish mercury content is calculated on an 80 percent moisture basis.
Enforcement posture
The Code applies to food sold or prepared for sale in Australia and New Zealand. Food businesses must comply with Code requirements through state, territory, and New Zealand food legislation. Source papers commonly cite Schedule 19 as a maximum-level comparator rather than as a study-specific enforcement action.
History of changes
The current Schedule 19 instrument was made in 2015 and commenced on 1 March 2016. Federal Register compilation C06, in force from 13 September 2024, incorporates the Food Standards (Proposal P1028 - Infant Formula - Consequential Amendments) Variation. Earlier compilations incorporated amendments including the 2024 harmonisation of marine biotoxin standards for bivalve shellfish, the 2022 Schedule 22 consequential amendments, and the 2017/2021 Code revision variations.
How it compares to EU/Codex/state law
The Australia/New Zealand framework differs from the EU contaminants framework in several matrix-specific limits. For example, Schedule 19 sets fish lead at 0.5 mg/kg, while EU fish-muscle lead limits are commonly lower in recent EU frameworks. Schedule 19 also regulates total arsenic in fish, crustacea, molluscs, cereal grains, and salt, while EU food arsenic regulation is more focused on inorganic arsenic in rice and rice-derived matrices plus specific seaweed/rice-drink entries. Literature pages should cite the exact jurisdiction used by the source paper rather than substituting EU, Codex, FDA, or Schedule 19 values across jurisdictions.
Sources
- Australian Government Federal Register of Legislation. Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Schedule 19 - Maximum levels of contaminants and natural toxicants, latest compilation F2024C00908. Source URL: https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2015L00454/latest
- Australian Government Federal Register of Legislation. Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 1.4.1 - Contaminants and natural toxicants. Source URL: https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2015L00408/latest
- FSANZ 25th Australian Total Diet Study - source-page encounter that required a Schedule 19 routing target for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury maximum-level comparisons.
Verification notes
- Created by Codex on 2026-05-18 after the FSANZ 25th Australian Total Diet Study source page cited Standard 1.4.1 / Schedule 19 but the wiki had no valid regulation slug for Australia/New Zealand contaminant maximum levels.
- The exact limits above were checked against the latest Federal Register Schedule 19 PDF available on 2026-05-18 (F2024C00908, C06, 13 September 2024). Source pages using historical ATDS results should still preserve the source paper’s own comparison year and wording.
Page history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.