Open Access
Subscription or Fee Access
Reducing Pesticide Residues in Food: Are Domestic Processing Practices Effective?
Abstract
The ingestion of food contaminated by pesticide residues is considered the primary route of pesticide exposure for humans. It is important to identify whether there are effective solutions or techniques for mitigating these risks. This integrative review aims to analyze the scientific evidence on domestic practices for reducing pesticide residues in food, discussing the mechanisms by which these techniques are effective or not. In all, 460 records were analyzed, leading to the selection of 21 articles. Techniques such as washing in water and acidic, alkaline, and detergent solutions, peeling, homogenization, and cooking can be effective strategies for reducing certain pesticide residues. Among the main mechanisms involved are solubilization, hydrolysis, thermal degradation, oxidation, and volatilization, and the effectiveness of each technique depends on the physicochemical nature of the pesticide, food, and processing conditions. However, these techniques may not be effective. Cooking, for example, in addition to leading to the formation of secondary metabolites of an unknown nature, can promote the concentration of the food, causing the residues to be concentrated in the product. While these techniques favor safety by reducing potentially toxic and pathogenic components, they can compromise the nutritional and functional characteristics of the product, mainly by decreasing the levels of fibers and antioxidants.
Keywords
References
Evangelou E, Ntritsos G, Chondrogiorgi M, Kavvoura FK, Hernández AF, Ntzani EE, et al. Exposure to pesticides and diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Int. 2016; 91: 60–8. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.02.013.
Lopes CVA, Albuquerque GSC de. Agrotóxicos e seus impactos na saúde humana e ambiental: uma revisão sistemática. Saúde Debate. 2018; 42(117): 518–34. doi: 10.1590/0103-1104201811714.
Kim KH, Kabir E, Jahan SA. Exposure to pesticides and the associated human health effects. Sci Total Environ. 2017; 575: 525–535. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.009.
Khaghani R, Mirhosseini MA, Fathipour Y. Household activities can reduce imidacloprid and abamectin residues in greenhouse crops. J Agr Sci Tech. 2018; 20(4): 775–786.
Kaushik E, Dubey JK, Patyal SK, Katna S, Chauhan A, Devi N. Persistence of tetraniliprole and reduction in its residues by various culinary practices in tomato in India. Environ Sci Pollut Res. 2019; 26: 22464–471. doi: 10.1007/s11356-019-04738-6.
Chung SW. How effective are common household preparations on removing pesticide residues from fruit and vegetables? A review. J Sci Food Agric. 2018; 98(8): 2857–70. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.8821.
Hassan H, Elsayed E, El-Raouf AERA, Salman SN. Method validation and evaluation of household processing on reduction of pesticide residues in tomato. J Consum Prot Food Saf. 2019; 14: 31–39. doi: 10.1007/s00003-018-1197-2.
Hassanzadeh N, Bahramifar N. Residue content of chlorpyrifos applied to greenhouse cucumbers and its reduction during pre-harvest interval and post-harvest household processing. JAST. 2019; 21(2): 381–391.
Kim SW, Al-Aty AM, Rahman M, Choi J-H, Lee Y-J, Ko A-Y, et al. The effect of household processing on the decline pattern of dimethomorph in pepper fruits and leaves. Food Control. 2015; 50: 118–24. doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2014.08.023.
Kwon H, Kim TK, Hong SM, Se EK, Cho N-J, Kyung K-S. Effect of household processing on pesticide residues in field-sprayed tomatoes. Food Sci Biotechnol. 2015; 24: 1–6. doi: 10.1007/s10068-015-0001-7.
Leili M, Pirmoghani A, Samadi MT, Shokoohi R, Roshanaei G, Poormohammadi A. Determination of pesticides residues in cucumbers grown in greenhouse and the effect of some procedures on their residues. Iran J Public Health. 2016; 45(11): 1481–90.
Ma Y, Zhan L, Yang H, Qin M, Chai S, Cao Z, et al. Dissipation of two field-incurred pesticides and three degradation products in rice (Oryza sativa L.) from harvest to dining table. J Sci Food Agric. 2019; 99(10): 4602–4608. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.9699.
Mekonen S, Ambelu A, Spanoghe P. Effect of Household Coffee Processing on Pesticide Residues as a Means of Ensuring Consumers' Safety. J Agric Food Chem. 2015; 63(38): 8568–73. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b03327.
Saeedi Saravi SS, Shokrzadeh M. Effects of washing, peeling, storage, and fermentation on residue contents of carbaryl and mancozeb in cucumbers grown in greenhouses. Toxicol Ind Health. 2016; 32(6): 1135–42. doi: 10.1177/0748233714552295.
Shakoori A, Yazdanpanah H, Kobarfard F, Shojaee MH, Salamzadeh J. The effects of house cooking process on residue concentrations of 41 multi-class pesticides in rice. Iran J Pharm Res. 17(2): 571–584. PMID: 29881415; PMCID: PMC5985175.
Sun C, Zeng L, Xu J, Zhong L, Han X, Chen L, Zhang Y, Hu D. Residual level of dimethachlon in rice-paddy field system and cooked rice determined by gas chromatography with electron capture detector. Biomed Chromatogr. 2018; 32(7): e4226. doi: 10.1002/bmc.4226.
Watanabe M, Ueyama J, Ueno E, Ueda Y, Oda M, Umemura Y, et al. Effects of processing and cooking on the reduction of dinotefuran concentration in Japanese rice samples. Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 2018; 35(7): 1316–23. doi: 10.1080/19440049.2018.1451659.
Wu Y, An Q, Li D, Wu J, Pan C. Comparison of different home/commercial washing strategies for ten typical pesticide residue removal effects in kumquat, spinach and cucumber. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019; 16(3): 472. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16030472.
Yang Q, Liu N, Zhang S, Wang W, Zou Y, Gu Z. The dissipation of cyazofamid and its main metabolite CCIM during tomato growth and tomato paste making process. Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 2019; 36(9): 1327–36. doi: 10.1080/19440049.2019.1626999.
Chen Z, Song S, Mao L, Wei J, Li Y, Tan H, Li X. Determinations of dinotefuran and metabolite levels before and after household coffee processing in coffee beans using solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. J Sci Food Agric. 2019; 99(3): 1267–74. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.9300.
Hanafi A, Elsheshetawy HE, Faied SF. Reduction of pesticides residues on okra fruits by different processing treatments. J Verbr Lebensm. 2016; 11: 337–343.
World Health Organization. Programme of Food Safety and Food Aid, Global Environment Monitoring System. Food Contamination and Monitoring Programme & Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission. Committee on Pesticide Residues. (1997). Guidelines for predicting dietary intake of pesticide residues / prepared by the Global Environment Monitoring System - Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment Programme (GEMS/Food); in collaboration with the Codex Commitee on Pesticide Residues, Rev. ed. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/63787.
Mekonen S, Ambelu A, Spanoghe P. Reduction of pesticide residues from teff (Eragrostis tef) flour spiked with selected pesticides using household food processing steps. Heliyon. 2019 May 23; 5(5): e01740. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01740.
Han JI, Fang P, Xu XM, Li-Zheng XJ, Shen HT, Ren YP. Study of the pesticides distribution in peel, pulp and paper bag and the safety of pear bagging. Food Control 2015; 54: 338–346.
Amirahmadi M, Kobarfard F, Pirali-Hamedani M, Yazdanpanah H, Rastegar H, Shoeibi S, et al. Effect of Iranian traditional cooking on fate of pesticides in white rice, Toxin Rev 2017; 36: 3, 177–186. doi: 10.1080/15569543.2017.1301956
Figueiredo V, Miranda J, Colares L, Carvalho J, Castro I, Carvalho L. Organophosphorus pesticides residues in cooked capsicum annuum. Italian Assoc Chem Eng 2015; 44: 241–246. doi: 10.3303/CET1544041.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.