Insights into the occurrence, distribution and dissipation of widespread agrochemicals in celery agrosystems for joint risk assessment

Abstract

Elucidating exposure risks associated with the most widely used agrochemicals and their metabolites in celery agrosystems are vital for food safety and human health. The occurrence, distribution, dissipation and metabolism of imidacloprid (IMI), acetamiprid (ACE), thiamethoxam (THM) and difenoconazole (DIF) in celery tissues reflected by initial depositions, uptake characteristics, half-lives, concentration variations. DIF exhibited unacceptable ecological risk to soil organisms under multi-risk evaluation models, including toxicity exposure ratio, risk quotient, and BITSSD model. The joint dietary risks of target pesticides were 37.273–647.454% and 0.400–2522.016% based on deterministic and probabilistic models, with non-carcinogenic risks of 30.207–85.522% and 1.229–2524.662%, respectively. Children aged 1–6 years suffered the highest exposure, with the leaves posing higher risk than other tissues. Long-term exposure risks should be continuously assessed for ecological sustainability and human health, given the widespread usage and cumulative effects of target pesticides, especially for rural children.