Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

Abstract

Fruits and vegetables play an important role in human nutrition and health; they constitute an important part of our daily diet. They are important sources of carbohydrates, vitamins, trace minerals, and antioxidants. Therefore, they can be contaminated by pesticides used for the protection of their culture. The use of pesticides to control pests in fruits and vegetables can lead to the presence of pesticide residues. The level of these residues can be below the maximum residue limit (MRL) if good agricultural practices (GAP) were used. The presence of residues with level exceeding MRLs should be interpreted as violation of GAP. In many reports, pesticide residues are present in the majority of fruits and vegetables; they are more detected in fruits than in vegetables. The percentage of exceeding MRLs is less than 20% in most monitoring programs. The risk assessment for long-term and short-term exposure must be done for all pesticides detected to ensure consumer’s health protection.