Risk analysis of profenofos on tomato in poly house and open fields and risk mitigation methods for removal of profenofos residues from tomato for food safety.

Abstract

Profenofos is a broad spectrum foliar insecticide and acaricide with contact and systemic action, widely used on tomato in India for the management of sap sucking insects and mites. Profenofos is not registered for use in India on tomato, and hence Maximum Residue Limits are not available as per Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. However, use of profenofos in poly house and open fields is very common, and hence profenofos residues are found in market samples. A research project was taken to study dissipation pattern of profenophos 50% EC in both open fields and poly houses, when applied twice @ 500 g a.i. ha−1, first spray at fruit initiation followed by second spray at 10 days interval as per the farmers practice. Profenofos residues were quantified through regular sampling till the residues are below determination level (BDL) of 0.05 mg kg−1 following the validated QuEChERS method. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of profenofos was performed on GC-FPD and GC-MSMS (TQD). Initial deposits of 3.25 mg kg−1 were detected in tomato samples collected from poly house, which dissipated to BDL by 15th day with half-life of 2.43 days. In open fields, deposits of 1.51 mg kg−1 dissipated to BDL by 7th day with half-life of 1.55 days, indicates that dissipation is slow in poly house compared to open fields due to various factors, and in both situations initial deposits are lower than the MRL (10 mg kg−1) of Codex Alimentarius Commission hence a pre-harvest interval of 1 day is recommended. MRL of 7 mg kg−1 in poly house tomato and 3 mg kg−1 in open field tomato is recommended based on the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) calculator and chronic hazard exposure assessment taking into consideration of average body weight, national per capita tomato consumption and acceptable daily intake (ADI) of profenofos. Among various decontamination methods tested, veggy wash found to be very effective in removing profenofos residues to an extent of 75.84% which can be recommended as risk mitigation method for food safety, followed by 4% acetic acid solution (71.22%) and tap water wash was least effective (37.60%) in removing profenofos residues from tomato.