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Pesticide Residues in Vegetable Products and Consumer’s Risk in the Agri-food Value Chain

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Agriculture Value Chain - Challenges and Trends in Academia and Industry

Part of the book series: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control ((SSDC,volume 280))

Abstract

The demand for food is increasing worldwide due to global population growth and the improvement of living standards. The use of pesticides in modern agriculture is necessary for most crops to guarantee the food supply. It has been estimated that the worldwide food production without the use of pesticides could decrease by as much as 35–40%, while the cost of food would increase. Vegetables and fruits are an important source of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. However, the improper and excessive use of pesticides in agriculture includes the increasing of health risks. Nevertheless, some products can be a source of pesticide residues and their ingestion represents a potential source of diseases and negative effects to human health. This chapter describes principles and methods for health risk assessment of pesticide residues in vegetable and fruits. The exposure assessment of pesticide residues is an essential method to quantify the chemical risks. In addition, the dietary exposure assessment, combine food consumption data with the pesticide concentrations on vegetable and fruits. The aim is to support the decision making process in the agri-food value chain to improve the food safety enforcement and reduce the impacts on human health. The assessment can be developed for the problem formulation and the interactions between risk assessor, risk manager, stakeholders and decision-makers. In addition, the assessment based on scientific evidences facilitates the decision-making process in order to determine the impacts of pesticide residues on human health and set up their maximum residue limits-MRLs.

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Acknowledgement

Authors of this publication acknowledge the contribution of the Project 691249, RUC-APS: Enhancing and implementing Knowledge based on ICT solutions within high Risk and Uncertain Conditions for Agriculture Production Systems (www.ruc-aps.eu), funded by the European Union under their funding scheme H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 and Project 502658-70 Ministry of Agriculture of Chile.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Pesticide Residues and Environment, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, CRI La Platina, Av. Santa Rosa 11610, Santiago, Chile

    S. Elgueta, A. Correa & M. Valenzuela

  2. Management School, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    J. E. Hernández

  3. Mast House, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, Devon, UK

    S. Liu

  4. Plymouth Business School, University of Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, UK

    H. Lu

  5. Horticultural Department, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, CRI La Platina, Av. Santa Rosa 11610, Santiago, Chile

    G. Saavedra

  6. Horticultural Department, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, CRI Carillanca, Camino 10 Km Vilcun, Temuco, Chile

    E. Kehr

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  1. S. Elgueta
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  2. A. Correa
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  3. M. Valenzuela
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  4. J. E. Hernández
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  5. S. Liu
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  6. H. Lu
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  7. G. Saavedra
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  8. E. Kehr
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Correspondence to S. Elgueta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liverpool Management School, Liverpool, UK

    Jorge E. Hernández

  2. Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Janusz Kacprzyk

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Elgueta, S. et al. (2021). Pesticide Residues in Vegetable Products and Consumer’s Risk in the Agri-food Value Chain. In: Hernández, J., Kacprzyk, J. (eds) Agriculture Value Chain - Challenges and Trends in Academia and Industry. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 280. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51047-3_6

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