Pesticide and non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (NDL-PCBs) residues in foodstuffs from Ismailia city, Egypt

Abstract

Samples of vegetables and cereals from Egypt were screened for 113 pesticides, of which 68 were quantified, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with limits of detection (LODs) ranging from 0.02 to 1.9 µg kg⁻¹. In addition, the residues of 17 non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (NDL-PCBs) were measured in samples of animal origin (meat, dairy products and seafood) using high-resolution gas chromatography (HRGC)/high-resolution mass spectroscopy (HRMS). None of the cereal samples and 72.7% of the vegetables contained any detectable levels of the pesticides. Detectable residues, not exceeding the current European Union maximum residue limits (MRLs) were found in 27.3% of vegetables. The estimated daily intake for detected pesticides was well below their corresponding acceptable daily intake (ADI), with exposure ranges between 0.002% of the ADI for profenofos and 0.2% of the ADI for lambda-cyhalothrin. The sum concentration of 17 PCBs congeners varied between 2.5 and 322 ng g⁻¹ fat, corresponding to 1.7-216 ng g⁻¹ fat for the seven indicator PCBs. The highest values were measured in seafood, the lowest in dairy products. Hexa-CB 153, 138 and hepta-CB180 were the congeners with the highest contribution. PCBs congener profiles found in most of the samples were consistent with the expected profile for Aroclor 1260 and 1262. PCBs’ contamination levels reported in this paper were many times lower than in developed countries, except for chicken samples. Also, the dietary intake of seven indicator PCBs due to the consumption of food of animal origin (4.84 ng kg⁻¹ body weight day⁻¹) from Ismailia city, Egypt, is several times lower than the intake in European Union countries.

Keywords:

• Egypt
• food contamination
• pesticide residues
• non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (NDL-PCB) residues; indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale La Chimica per l’Ambiente, INCA Laboratory, Italy, for its assistance in the analysis of PCB residues.