This research aims at assessing the health risks associated with pesticide residues in greenhouse grown tomato production in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey. A multiresidue method based on modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) was used for sample preparation that is applied for pesticide detection from extraction of tomato samples in the methodology generated by The Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) Official Method. The restrain of the quantification varied from 0.002 to 0.009 mg kg-1. The validated data exposed both adequate recoveries, repeatability and reproducibility, including accomplished all other requirements of the European DG SANTE/12682/2019 Guideline. This study divulges that tomatoes cultivated in greenhouse demonstrate 61.5% of samples with one or various pesticide residues. The maximum permitted residue level of above the EU DG Guideline was in 12.2% of the samples. The main determined pesticide residues on the tomatoes cultivated in greenhouse were identified as chlorpyrifos methyl, cyfluthrin, deltamethrin, and acetamiprid. Chlorpyrifos methyl (9.5%), cyfluthrin (6.6%), deltamethrin (5.5%), and acetamiprid (3.2%) were recognized as the most conducing residues to the hazard index (HI). The HI was 9.5% for adults and 11.02% for children (3 to <10 years). The major contributor of the HI was chlorpyrifos in both.
Keywords: Exposure; Food safety; Hazard index; LC-MS/MS; Pesticide residues; QuEChERS; Tomatoes.