Pesticide residues evaluation in brazilian basic diet: rice and bean

ABSTRACT

Rice and bean constitute the basic diet in underdeveloped countries.In Brazil, the acquisition per capita of these aliments is around182.9 g/day (beans) and 160.3 g/day (rice). In the present work wereevaluated the pesticide residue contamination on these aliments,and possible risks for the consumer health. Pesticide residues wereevaluated in 364 bean samples and 143 rice samples commercializedin Sao Paulo City (BRAZIL). A multi-residue method (DFG S19) wasemployed with gas and liquid chromatography identifi cation andquantifi cation. Dietary intake estimation was processed using the Acute Dietary Ingestion (ADI) based on national data regarding foodconsumption. Residues of pesticides that, according to the Brazilianlegislation, are not allowed for this culture were detected respectivelyin 4.5% and 3.6% of the bean and rice samples. However, none ofthe samples had pesticide residues above the Maximum ResidueLevel (MRL). The European Union (EU) database showed that 7.3%of the bean sample and 85.7% of rice presented pesticide residuesabove the MRL. The toxicological parameter used for assessing therisk of contamination (ADI <100%) was not exceeded in none of thecommodities. The results do not pose a hazard for the consumer’shealth. Nevertheless, the presence of multiple residues indicatesthat continuous studies and monitoring of these commodities arerequired.