Organophosphate and carbamate pesticide residues and accompanying risks in commonly consumed vegetables in Kenya

ABSTRACT

The current study was conducted to assess the levels of organophosphates and carbamates in vegetables in Kenya and to examine potential consumer health risks. A total of 90 samples were analysed by liquid chromatography/high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. Residues of acephate, chlorpyrifos, methamidophos, omethoate and profenofos were found in 22% of the samples, ranging from 10 to 1343 μg/kg. The EU MRL was exceeded in 21%, 10%, 8% and 22% of the samples of French beans, kales, spinach and tomatoes, respectively. Chlorpyrifos in spinach had an acute HQ of 3.3 and 2.2 for children and adults, respectively, implying that potential health risks with respect to acute dietary exposure cannot be excluded. For chronic dietary exposure, all chronic HQs were below 1. The HI for the pesticides was 0.54 and 0.34 for children and adults. Routine monitoring of OPs and carbamates in vegetables is recommended to minimise consumer’s health risks.

KEYWORDS:

• Vegetables
• Organophosphate
• pesticides
• food safety
• dietary exposure assessment
• human health Risk

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (Nuffic) via scholarship granted to Isaac Omwenga (NFP - PhD.17/0019). The authors would like to thank the county government of Nairobi for consenting to this study as well as the local farmers and traders for their cooperation and support during the sample collection.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.