Glyphosate residues in Swiss market foods: monitoring and risk evaluation

ABSTRACT

A total of 243 samples of diverse foodstuffs were analysed for glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) using a liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method with a relatively low limit of quantification in the range of 0.0005–0.0025 mg kg⁻¹. Main contributors for dietary glyphosate and AMPA intake were cereals and pulses. The results suggest that pasta is a very important foodstuff for dietary glyphosate residue intake in Switzerland. Interestingly all samples of wine, fruit juice and nearly all samples of honey tested positive for glyphosate although at very low levels. A dietary risk assessment was conducted. Food products for analysis were not selected purely at random, rather products were selected for which high levels of glyphosate residues were suspected. However, even in samples where high residue levels were expected, no exceedances of maximum residue levels were found. Consequently, human exposure did not exceed neither acceptable daily intake nor acute reference dose. Therefore, glyphosate residues found in the sampled foodstuffs from the Swiss market were of no concern for human health.

KEYWORDS:

• Glyphosate
• aminomethylphosphonic acid
• 2-amino-3-phosphonopropionic acid
• food monitoring
• risk assessment

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Emanuel Hänggi from our office and André Känzig from the Cantonal Office of Consumer Protection Aargau for comments on legal issues and for help in sample procurement. We acknowledge Silvia Zeltner and Ursula Ulrich from our office for help with procurement and documentation of samples. We thank as well Vincent Dudler from our office for critically reviewing the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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