MULTIPLE PESTICIDE RESIDUES

IN SPINACH AND ASSOCIATED HEALTH RISK

Abstract

Background: Food safety is a major public concern worldwide. This is serious
problem in the whole world especially in economically poor countries like Pakistan. The
production of safe food is an important aspect of food quality assurance as well as human
health. The people are demanding fresh, hygienic and quality food. Objective: To study the
level of pesticide residues in spinach grown in peri-urban area of district Faisalabad and
compare the level of contaminants respective their maximum residues limits (MRLS). Materials
and Methods: Ten farmers were selected randomly for spinach in the peri-urban area of
district Faisalabad and vegetable samples were collected at optimum maturity in triplicate and
transported to the laboratory of National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University
of Agriculture, Faisalabad for further processing. The residues of pesticide were determined
by GC-ECD. Results: The results regarding pesticide residues in different spinach samples
showed variations and residues varied as deltamethrin 0.024 to 0.143 mg kg-1, permethrin 0.159
to 0.573 mg kg-1, cypermethrin 0.098 to 0.503 mg kg-1, profenofos 0.016 to 0.425 mg kg-1,
chlorpyrifos 0.009 to 0.212 mg kg-1, bifenthrin 0.012 to 0.623 mg kg-1, endosulfan 0.043 to 0.103
mg kg-1, dimethoate 0.077 to 0.515 mg kg-1, respectively. The chlorpyriphos has no residues in
any sample of spinach. Conclusion: The spinach samples are found to be contaminated with
a number of different pesticides and these pesticides are not applied judiciously according to
good agricultural practices and recommended doses. The farmers are unaware of pesticide use
and other agricultural practices due to lack of extension as result causes of serious problems
to all community.