Safety of food products intended for children: residual amounts of pesticides (literature review)

Abstract

The literature review examines data on the assessment of contamination of food products and biological media with organochlorine pesticides, modern approaches, and methods for the identification and quantification of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) as follows: hexachlorobenzene (HCB), aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, and endrin in various vegetable matrices, of animal origin (food products) and biological media (breast milk, blood serum, tissues). These pesticides, along with DDT and its metabolites and HCH (α, β, γ isomers), are persisting organic pollutants (POPs) according to the list of the Stockholm POPs Convention, included in the so-called global “dirty dozen substances”. Despite the prohibition of the production of these pesticides by most countries of the world community and the elimination of the quantities already produced, their migration along the food chain from contaminated objects of the environment to plants, and through plants to animals and humans, is still observed. Today’s contamination with OCPs and their metabolites remains a severe problem since they are detected in environmental objects, food products, and baby formula and breast milk. The literature review is based on virtual database platforms: Elsevier, PubMed, Science Direct, Medline, SciELO, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, e-LIBRARY, Electronic collection of legal and regulatory documents, and others.