Dietary exposure of Tunisian adult population aged from 19 to 65 years old to pesticides residues

ABSTRACT

Dietary exposure of the Tunisian adult population to pesticide residue was assessed using the Total Diet Study method. In the present study 170 pesticides were searched for in 42 aggregated foods characterised by 64 food samples representing the Tunisian diet. All the food samples were collected, prepared, and analysed for remains of pesticides including organochlorine, organophosphorous, carbamates and pyrethroids. The GC-MS analysis and the LC-MS/MS analysis and some other specific analytical methods were employed for the quantification of the pesticide residues in the food samples. Results revealed that21pesticides reached amounts greater than the LOQ(12.3%) and 149 pesticides reached amounts below the LOD (88%).For the 21 pesticides quantified, the ADI was not exceeded. For the 149 non-quantified pesticides, an interval defined by the lower and upper bounds was defined to assess the dietary exposure of the Tunisian adult population to those pesticides. We conclude that 8 pesticides theoretically exceed the ADI with the 95^th percentile of exposure, those are: Diféthialone, Brodifacoum, Bromadiolone, Glufosinate, Heptachlor, Dieldrin Aldrin Oxydemeton-methyl. This study concludes that there is a low dietary exposure to pesticide residue of the Tunisian adult population. In fact, all the cases where the ADI was exceeded were theoretical due to the lower ADI value used.

KEYWORDS:

• Tunisian total diet study
• pesticide residue
• food intake
• exposure assessment

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the FAO and ANCSEP.The authors would like to acknowledge thetechnical and scientific contribution of the ANCSEP group. They would also like to thank Dr. Alexandre Nougadere from the European Food Safety Authority for his valuable expertise shared with the ANCSEP project team on pesticides.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FAO [60000].