Insecticide Residues in Foods

Abstract

The conventional agriculture which excessively employs synthetic insecticides for crop protection, sidelining traditionally known agri-friendly environmental factors like biodiversity and soil conservation, of course led to bumper crop yield in farms. But synthetic insecticide molecule residues in foods and water have posed serious threat to biosphere and public health. Therefore traditionally known agri-friendly and environmentally safe natural insecticides like neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf juice or neem oil are again in limelight in India. The natural insecticides of pyrethrum, derris, ryania, sabadilla, and tobacco sources are worldwide considered to replace synthetic insecticides for crop protection in farms; and a new kind of agriculture called organic farming has evolved. Still there does not seem ample scope for natural biomolecules of plant and bacterial origin with insecticidal property like azadirachtin, pyrethrins, spinosad, milbemycins, ryanodine, etc. perhaps due to limited legal acceptance to natural insecticides on account of their unfavorable effects in the human body.