Pesticide Residues in Some Polish Herbs

Abstract

In the presented study a total of 104 samples of herbal material (herbage of thyme, savory, sage, rock rose, marjoram, horsetail, oregano, basil; seeds of flax; roots of liquorice, valerian and lovage, flowers of coneflower and camomile and fruits of fennel and caraway) were analysed for the content of 250 pesticides. Residues of 16 pesticides were identified in 72.1% of the analysed herbal samples. In 11 of the analysed samples of thyme herbage and in one sample of basil herbage concentrations exceeding the maximum allowable levels were demonstrated. Residues of the identified substances were detected most frequently in samples of thyme (66.34%), compared to the other groups of analysed herbal material where the percentage share of samples containing the compounds sought was at the level of approximately 20%.