Effect of household and industrial processing on levels of pesticide residues and degradation products in melons

Aurore Bonnechère (1) , Vincent Hanot (1) , Claude Bragard (2) , Thomas Bedoret (3) , Joris van Loco (1)

1 Food, Medicines and Consumer Safety [Brussels]
2 Faculté d'ingénierie biologique, agronomique et environnementale UCL
3 Redebel

Two varieties of melons (Cucumis melo) were treated by two fungicides (carbendazim and maneb) and four insecticides (acetamiprid, cyromazin, imazalil and thiamethoxam) to quantify the effect of household processing on the pesticide residues. To ensure sufficiently high levels of residues in flesh and peels, the most concentrated formulations were applied pursuant to Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). The peeling step decreased the concentration of pesticide residues for maneb, imazalil and acetamiprid by more than 90%. Cyromazin, carbendazim and thiamethoxam were reduced by ~50%. The reduction of the pesticides could not be fully explained by the systemic character of the pesticides. However, the agricultural practices (time of application), the solubility and mode of action (systemic vs. contact pesticide) of the pesticides allowed to make assumptions to explain the difference in processing factors for the studied pesticides. Degradation products (melamine and ethylenethiourea) were also investigated in this study but were not detected.

Mots clés: LC/MS; GC; pesticide residues; fruit; vegetables

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Aurore Bonnechère, Vincent Hanot, Claude Bragard, Thomas Bedoret, Joris van Loco. Effect of household and industrial processing on levels of pesticide residues and degradation products in melons. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2012, 29 (7), pp.1058-1066. ⟨10.1080/19440049.2012.672339⟩. ⟨hal-00811703⟩