Pesticide residues and acute dietary risk assessment in Polish raw food (2005–2013)

Abstract: Food safety is very important for consumers. Fruits, vegetables and cereals are not only the major source of vitamins, minerals, fibre and energy, but can also be a source of many pollutants posing health hazards. Pesticides found in food are just examples of harmful substances affecting food safety. The objective of this paper was to assess short-term health risks assessment based on the concentration of pesticide residues found in agricultural products collected from national food control systems during the period 2005–2013 at the Official Pesticide Residue Laboratory in Bialystok in frame of RASFF (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) system. During nine-year testing, totally 2021 fruits, vegetables and cereals were sampled from the north-eastern and central part of Poland and analyzed by gas and liquid chromatography and spectroscopic technique for the presence of 188 active substances of pesticides. Contaminations were not detected in 65.3 % of samples, 31.9 % samples contained residues below the maximum residue levels (MRLs), while 2.8 % of tested samples exceeded MRLs. Among 81 RASFF notifications noted, the greatest number of irregularities concerned exceeding the values of MRL – 41, in 27 cases it was found that a pesticide was not used in accordance with the registration of plant protection product. The highest estimated values for short-term exposure were obtained for plum for the dimethoate, and in the group of toddlers it was 94.6 % ARfD (Acute Reference Dose), and in the adult group it was 23.3 % ARfD.