Pesticide Residues in Unfermented Grape Juices and Raw Wines: A 5-year Survey of More than 3000 Products

The concentrations of 26 pesticides have been assayed in 1537 wines and in 1827 raw juices prior to fermentation from nine major wine-producing countries or regions. Seventeen pesticides were measurable in < 1% of the wines and juices. Seven yielded measurable concentrations in > 1% (18) juice products, three of which were also found in > 1% (15) of the wine samples. With the exception of Carbaryl (37 samples, 2.4%), no pesticide exceeded a concentration of 0.1 mg l -1 in > 0.5% (eight) of the wines analysed; indeed, this occurred for all other pesticides in only seven wines (0.47% of the total). In the case of juices, concentrations > 0.1 mg l -1 were detected most frequently for Folpet (219 samples, 12%) and Captan (212 samples, 11.6%) and in > 1% of samples for Guthion, Imidan and Carbaryl. The principles of good manufacturing practice suggest that maximal residual levels (MRLs) for Carbaryl in wine should be set at 0.8mg l -1 and 0.1 mg l -1 for all other pesticides. The same principles are consistent with MRLs of 0.5 mg l -1 for all except Folpet and Captan in juices. The latter two pesticides as parent compounds are rarely found in wines, even in trace amounts, but the presence of their metabolites has been well documented, and should be regarded with caution.