ABSTRACT
Food safety is an area of growing worldwide concern on account of its direct bearing on human health. Pesticides [ insecticides, fungicides, etc.] are used globally for the protection of food. The presence of harmful pesticide residues in food has caused a great concern among the consumers. This study aimed to determine and investigate the changes of pesticide residues in potatoes during preparation and processing, and investigating the health effects of pesticide residues on albino rats. Potatoes was collected from local market and analyzed for pesticide residues, imidaclopride, metalaxyl, and cloropropham were found. Results showed that all processing and preparing technique led to a decrease in pesticide residues. Treating potatoes by cooking [ boiling, streaming, grilling, roasting, frying, and microwave] led to reduce in imidaclopride residues by 99.71%, 94.71%, 99.43%, 98.14%, 98.42% and 90% respectively. While metalaxyl residues was reduced by 95.7%, 91.71%, 69.29%, 93.14%, 94.95% and 52.29% respectively. Cloropropham residues were reduced by 72.96%, 59.26%, and 51.85%, 37.04%, 62.96% and 41.67%, respectively. Feeding albino rats basal diet and different cooked potatoes led to significant increase [p<0.05] in serum AST, ALT, ALP, and MDA levels compared to positive control group. While there was no significant difference in serum total protein levels in all treated groups. The study demonstrate that in most cases processing leads to reductions in residues level in the cooked potatoes, particularly through boiling, but pesticide residues affect liver function and lipid oxidation. In addition it causes histological changes in the liver and lungs of rats