Multiresidue analysis of insecticides and fungicides in apples from the Greek market. Applying an alternative approach for risk assessment

Manolis Tzatzarakis; Manolis Kokkinakis; Elisavet Renieri; Marina Goumenou; Matthaios Kavvalakis; Elena Vakonaki; Alexandra Chatzinikolaou; Polychronis Stivaktakis; Ioannis Tsakiris; Apostolos Rizos; Aristidis Tsatsakis

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2020.111262

Multiresidue analysis of insecticides and fungicides in apples from the Greek market. Applying an alternative approach for risk assessment

Food Chem Toxicol. 2020 Jun:140:111262. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2020.111262. Epub 2020 Mar 17.

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Toxicology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
² Laboratory of Toxicology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece; Food Quality Laboratory, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Sitia, 72300, Greece.
³ Laboratory of Toxicology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece; Department of Chemistry, University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH-IESL), GR-71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
⁴ TEI of Western Macedonia, Florina Branch, Department of Agricultural Products, Greece.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH-IESL), GR-71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
⁶ Laboratory of Toxicology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece. Electronic address: toxlab.uoc@gmail.com.

PMID: 32198030
DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2020.111262

Abstract

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture and their proven high toxicity makes the need of monitoring their presence in food imperative. A multi residue method is applied in apples samples (81) collected from the Greek market for the monitoring of 40 analytes. Pesticides levels were evaluated by gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry using a QuEChERs protocol. Risk for consumers was assessed by a newly developed methodology, employing the source related Hazard Quotient (HQs) and the adversity specific Hazard Index (HI_A). The 84% of the apple's samples were positive for at least one pesticide, 21% for one pesticide, 55.6% for two to four pesticide residues and 7.4% for more than 4 pesticide residues. The most frequently detected compound was carbendazim (45.7%) followed by chlorpyrifos (44.4.0%). The mean detected concentration levels varied from 0.169 ppm (fluopyram) to 0.005 ppm (triazophos). 19 of the 40 investigated pesticides were not detected in any apple sample. For all individual pesticides, the source related Hazard Quotient (HQs) was <1 indicating no risk. HI_A, resulting from the sum of all HQs was found HI_A < 1 in nine out of ten toxicity groups, except to the neurotoxicity group, which presented HI_A 2.258, indicating moderate risk.

Keywords: Apples; Chromatography; Hazard; Mass spectrometry; Pesticides; QuEChERS.

MeSH terms

Chromatography, Liquid / methods
Food Contamination / analysis*
Fungicides, Industrial / analysis*
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / methods
Greece
Insecticides / analysis*
Malus / chemistry*
Pesticide Residues / analysis*
Risk Assessment
Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods

Substances

Fungicides, Industrial
Insecticides
Pesticide Residues