An extensive pesticide residue study in minor polish vegetables based on critical consumer diets

Pesticides are important hazards affecting food safety. The number of approved active substances in European Union (EU) for minor crops has declined, causing problems for vegetable protection. Therefore, the first purpose of this large−scale study was to assess the occurrence of pesticides in Polish minor crops (590 samples), including bulb, brassica, root and tuber, leafy, stem, fruiting, and legume vegetables. Moreover, the second purpose was the estimation of toxicological health risk. Pesticides were found in 39.8 % of samples, including not approved pesticides (10.3 %). Of the 535 compounds, 53 were detected by GC–LC/MS/MS (up to 7.6 mg kg⁻¹). Pendimethalin and not approved chlorpyrifos were the most frequently determined. EU maximum residue level (MRL) exceedances were noted in 5.1 % of samples and the highest was recorded for chlorpyrifos in dill. Not acceptable acute health risk was determined for children consuming parsnip which contained linuron (180.6 %) and lettuce with beta−cyfluthrin (125.6 %) and chlorpyrifos (114.2 %) residues. The study highlighted the need for pesticide monitoring and the implementation of innovative solutions in agricultural practice to protect Polish minor crops in the fields.