Raw food materials including agricultural, fishery and livestock products have been classified differently from either production or consumption aspects. Though a unified classification scheme based on residue potential of chemicals such as pesticides, veterinary drugs and environmental contaminants is needed for tolerance setting and regulatory work, diverse classification of food mateials brought about much confusion. This study attempted to point out problems encountered in applying the residue limits toward several food commodities and to propose more reasonable classification of food materials in accommodation of Codex standards. Some suggestions were proposed in establishing residue limits of chemicals including pesticides on the basis of food classification scheme attempted here.