N-methyl carbamate pesticide residues in conventional and organic infant foods available on the Canadian retail market, 2001–03

Abstract

Seven parent N-methyl carbamate insecticides, in addition to two transformation products of aldicarb (aldicarb sulfoxide and aldicarb sulfone), and a single transformation product of carbofuran (3-hydroxycarbofuran) were measured in infant and junior foods available on the Canadian retail market between 2001 and 2003. Carbaryl and methomyl were the only analytes present at levels above the limits of detection in juice, cereals, fruit, vegetables or meat samples analysed. Carbaryl was the most frequently (7.6%) detected compound and concentrations ranged from 0.6 to 18 ng g⁻¹. Detectable levels of carbaryl were most frequently found in foods prepared with fruit. Methomyl was detected (0.8 ng g⁻¹) in one chicken with broth sample analysed in the present study. In all cases, the concentrations observed were orders of magnitude below the maximum residue limits established for these compounds in the corresponding raw food commodities in Canada (100–10 000 ng g⁻¹). Dietary intakes of carbaryl and methomyl based on the consumption of infant foods tested ranged between 0.2–343 and 0.4–2.0 ng kg⁻¹ body weight day⁻¹, respectively.

Keywords:

• N-methyl carbamates
• infant food
• residue levels
• high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Stephen Hayward, Division of Statistics and Epidemiology, Bureau of Biostatistics and Computer Applications, Health Products and Food Branch, Health Canada, for the determination of consumption intake values.