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Surveillance of pesticide residues in tomato and eggplant and assessment of acute and chronic health risks to the consumers in Pakistan

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Abstract

Pesticide application has become a mandatory requirement of the modern agricultural system, resulting in the objectionable levels of pesticide residues in the treated food commodities and posing health threats to the consumers. This study aimed at optimization and validation of an analytical method which can be reliably applied for routine monitoring of the selected eighteen widely reported pesticides in tomato and eggplant. The principle of quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe, i.e., QuEChERS, involving the acetate-buffered extraction followed by cleanup using the primary secondary amines (PSA) was employed. The analytical method was validated at three spiking levels (0.05, 0.01, 0.005 mg/kg) using gas chromatograph-micro electron capture detector (GC-µECD). Gas chromatograph-mass spectrometric detector (GC-MSD) was also used for confirmation and quantification using selective ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The method was applied on fresh samples of tomato (n = 33) and eggplant (n = 27) collected from local markets of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in the crop season 2020–2021. Twenty-five (76%) tomato samples and fifteen (56%) eggplant samples were found positive for one or more pesticides. Though the chronic and acute health risk assessments indicate that both of these vegetables are unlikely to pose any unacceptable health threat to their consumers, yet the risks from regular intake of pesticides-contaminated food commodities should be regularly addressed for possible protection of the public health and assurance of safe and consistent agro-trade, alike.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical support provided by Pakistan’s Federal Government under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP-7331) titled “National Pesticide Residues Monitoring System in Pakistan” and also partial support provided by Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government under the Annual Development Program (ADP-200014) titled “Surveillance on Pesticide and Fertilizer Adulteration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.” The authors are also very grateful to the laboratory’s supporting staff (Mr. Muhammad Asghar, Mr. Muhammad Sadiq, and Mr. Umair Jamal) for all their due and undue support throughout the experimental work.

Funding

This research work was partially funded by Pakistan’s Federal Government under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP-7331) titled “National Pesticide Residues Monitoring System in Pakistan” and partially by Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government under the Annual Development Program (ADP-200014) titled “Surveillance on Pesticide and Fertilizer Adulteration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pesticides Chemistry Section, Directorate of Soil and Plants Nutrition, Agricultural Research Institute, Tarnab, Peshawar, 25000, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

    Aasma Bibi, Syed Roohul Hussain, Abdul Ahad, Azeem Ud Deen & Bilal Jan

  2. Directorate of Soil and Plants Nutrition, Agricultural Research Institute, Tarnab, Peshawar, 25000, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

    Farida Anjum

  3. Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Agriculture, Peshawar, 25000, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

    Muhammad Suleman

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  1. Aasma Bibi
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  2. Farida Anjum
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  4. Abdul Ahad
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  7. Bilal Jan
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Contributions

Conceptualization: FA, AB; method optimization and validation: AB, SRH, AA; samples collection, preparation, and analysis: AB, SRH, AA, AUD, BJ; literature review: AB, AA, MS; Data analysis, results interpretation, and manuscript writing: AB; project supervision: FA.

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Correspondence to Farida Anjum.

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Bibi, A., Anjum, F., Hussain, S.R. et al. Surveillance of pesticide residues in tomato and eggplant and assessment of acute and chronic health risks to the consumers in Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 6385–6397 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31581-7

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