Cumulative health risk assessment of pesticide residues in apple products in the Northwest of Iran using Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

Pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables cause serious health issues, especially among children. This research was carried out to monitor and evaluate the risks of organophosphate pesticide residues in Maragheh County apple products from 2020. The Monte Carlo Simulation approach (MCS) was used to evaluate the non-cancerous effects of exposure to pesticide residues in adults and children. Apple samples were taken every two weeks at the Maragheh central market during the summer and fall months. In this study, seventeen pesticide residues in 30 apple samples were estimated using a modified QuECheRS extraction technique coupled with GC/MS. Of the seventeen organophosphate pesticides, thirteen were identified as pesticide residues (76.47%). The highest concentration found in the apple samples was associated with chlorpyrifos pesticide at 1.05 mg/kg. Pesticide residues exceeding the maximum residue limits (MRLs) were found in 100% of apple specimens, and more than 75% of the samples contained ten or more pesticide residues. Approximately 45%–80% of pesticide residues on apple samples were removed after washing and peeling. Chlorpyrifos pesticide had the highest health quotient (HQ) for men, women, and children with values of 0.046, 0.054, and 0.23, respectively. Cumulative risk assessment (CRA) of non-carcinogenic effects indicates that there is no significant health risk in the adult age group from apple consumption (HI < 1). Nevertheless, children are at high non-cancer risk from eating unwashed apples (HI = 1.3). This finding shows that high levels of pesticide residues in apple samples, especially unwashed apples, can be a serious concern for the health of children. To better protect consumer health, continuous and regular monitoring, strict regulations, training, and awareness of farmers, especially control pre-harvest interval (PHI) is recommended.

Keywords:

• Apple
• pesticide
• risk assessment
• Monte Carlo simulation
• Iran

Acknowledgments

This article is taken from the master’s thesis of environmental health engineering approved by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. We sincerely thank all those who participated in this research and also all the staff and officials of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences who helped us in this research.

Author contribution

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Neda Soheili Maleki. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Neda Soheili Maleki and Gholam Hossein Safari, Mohammad Shkerkhatibi and Mehran Dolatkhah commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval

The authors have adhered to the accepted ethical standards of a research study in this work.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.