Chronic exposure of insecticide and fungicide as indicator of health impact in some commonly consumed leafy vegetables: Case study

Abstract

Pesticide residues were monitored in selected leafy vegetables, namely (cabbage (capitata var. alba), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), molokia/Jews mallow (Corchorus olitorius), spinach (Spinacia oleracea) in the Egyptian market during 2012. A multi-residue analysis method for 103 pesticide residue monitoring (insecticides and fungicides) was employed. Among analyzed samples, 15 different pesticides were detected in 83 samples with a percentage of 54.2 of tested samples. Meanwhile, the MRLs have been exceeded in 14.5% of totally analyzed samples. The contamination percentages were observed in descending order in cabbage, lettuce, Molokai and spinach with percentages of 71.4, 44.4, and 57 and 47.8 respectively. The obtained results revealed that chlorpyrifos and profenofos were the most frequently detected pesticides. The calculated ratio of EDI to ADI was 0.004–1.5120%, indicating no risk by pointing positive detections of pesticide residues.