Acute and chronic exposure risks of insecticide residues in fresh commodities collected from Bursa province markets during winter season

Abstract

This study shows the findings about pesticide residues and the associated acute and chronic exposure risks of different fresh commodities collected from different markets located in Bursa province during 2023 winter season. For this purpose, pesticide residue levels of the collected samples were analysed with LC-MS/MS. Highest levels of insecticide and acaricide residues were detected in some lettuce, parsley, dill, carrot, pear, mandarin and banana samples and they were exceeded the maximum residue limit (MRL). The acute and the chronic exposures to pesticides were assessed by using the highest and the average redidue levels of each pesticide respectively. Highest acute exposure was calculated as acute reference dose (ARfD) exceedance rate and it was 104.27% for indoxacarb in apples, 107.06% and 137.11% for lambda-cyhalothrin in pears and mandarins, and 158.2% for phosmet in pears. For all commodity types, none of the pesticide residues displayed chronic hazard. When the cumulative long-term exposure evaluated, none of the insecticides was found to be risky for adults. The findings showed that the levels of insecticide residues on lettuce, parsley, dill, carrot, apple, pear, mandarin, orange and banana samples collected from Bursa markets in winter 2023 could not be considered as an important public health risk.