Frequently used pesticides and their metabolites residues in apple and apple juice from markets across China: Occurrence and health risk assessment

Abstract

A large number of apples produced in China are consumed by people around the world every year. The pesticide residues in apples and apple juice are receiving more attention. Herein, 14 frequently used pesticides and 3 metabolites were selected as targets to investigate their residues in apples (120 samples) and apple juice (40 samples) in the markets across China, and the dietary intake risk for consumers was estimated. The monitoring results showed 91.7% of apple samples contained detectable pesticide residues, and six pesticides including thiamethoxam, carbendazim, pyraclostrobin, tebuconazole, chlorpyrifos and fenpyroximate exceeded limits of quantification with a detection rate of 63.3%, 61.7%, 22.5%, 21.7%, 8.3% and 2.5%, respectively. All pesticide residues were below their maximum residue limits (MRLs) in China. However, the banned pesticide chlorpyrifos in the Europe Union and the United States exceeded the local MRL (0.01 mg kg−1) in 7.5% of apples. No target chemicals occurred in juice samples. Risk assessment showed in deterministic assessment, the chronic and acute risk quotients of pesticides were ≤1.66 × 10−1% and 6.84%, respectively. The risk quotients of probability assessment were no more than 1.56%. The results indicated a negligible risk for consumers from consuming apples and apple juice from markets across China.