Anvisa Weighs Adding Biocontrol Fungus Trichoderma Asperelloides to Approved List
12 October 2026, São Paulo: Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa has opened a 60-day public consultation on a proposal to add Trichoderma asperelloides, a fungus used as a biological control agent, to the country’s official list of approved active ingredients for pesticides, sanitizers and wood preservatives. The proposal, published as Consulta Pública nº 1.429, was signed on October 7, 2026 by Cassia de Fatima Rangel Fernandes, general manager of Anvisa’s Toxicology division (Gerencia-Geral de Toxicologia, or GGTOX), and appeared in the Diario Oficial da Uniao on October 8, 2026.
The ingredient under review carries the internal code T87 within Anvisa’s active ingredient monograph system. If approved, it would be folded into Instrucao Normativa nº 103, issued October 19, 2021, which currently lists the active ingredients Brazil recognizes for agrochemical and related registrations. Companies cannot register formulated products containing an active ingredient until that ingredient appears on this list, so the consultation is a gatekeeping step that precedes, rather than follows, any commercial product registration.
Interested parties, including crop protection companies, researchers and civil society groups, have 60 days to submit comments, with the clock starting three business days after the gazette publication. Submissions must go through Anvisa’s Participacao Social portal using the agency’s electronic form; comments sent by other channels or after the deadline will not be considered when Anvisa consolidates the final text. All contributions received are made public. After the comment period closes, Anvisa’s Directoria Colegiada, the agency’s collegiate board, will review the feedback and issue a final decision, which will be published on Anvisa’s website.
Trichoderma species are filamentous fungi widely used worldwide as biofungicides and biostimulants, valued for suppressing soil-borne pathogens without the residue and resistance concerns associated with some synthetic fungicides. Anvisa already recognizes several other Trichoderma species, including Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma atroviride and Trichoderma harzianum, on its approved ingredients list, so this consultation extends an existing regulatory category rather than creating a new one for Brazil.
It is worth noting that approval of the active ingredient monograph is only one of three regulatory tracks a biopesticide must clear in Brazil. Anvisa handles human toxicology, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) separately assesses agronomic efficacy and issues the final product registration, and Ibama evaluates environmental impact. Inclusion on the active ingredient list after this consultation would not by itself authorize any company to sell a Trichoderma asperelloides-based product in Brazil.
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