Raw Agricultural Commodity Research Articles

Dissipation, Processing Factors and Dietary Exposure Assessment of Myclobutanil in Tomato.

Myclobutanil residue poses a potential threat to consumers' health. This work aims to investigate the degradation behavior, residue levels, processing factors (PFs) and dietary risk of myclobutanil in tomato. Myclobutanil was analyzed using a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, safe (QuEChERS) method combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), and average recoveries ranged from 82% to 102% with relative standard deviations RSDs ≤ 9.1%. After spraying myclobutanil miscible oil under field conditions, the initial concentration of myclobutanil was 0.055 mg/kg, and its dissipation followed the first-order kinetics equation with a half-life of 2.88 days. Myclobutanil was mainly present in the tomato skin, and its concentration was about four times that in the whole tomato. The initial concentration of myclobutanil in raw tomato was 0.100 mg/kg. After washing, peeling, homogenization, simmering and canning, the residual level of myclobutanil decreased to 0.067 mg/kg, 0.023 mg/kg, 0.013 mg/kg, 0.044 mg/kg and 0.041 mg/kg, respectively. Although the procedure of simmering led to an increase in myclobutanil concentration, the PFs were all less than 1 in the whole process, showing that the processing procedure significantly decreased the residual level of myclobutanil canned tomato paste in comparison with the raw agricultural commodity. Washing, peeling, and homogenization played critical roles in reducing pesticide residues. The residues of myclobutanil during the processing of tomato pose low dietary exposure risks to consumers in China, which were acceptable. However, the acute and chronic risk quotient for children revealed that it was necessary to monitor the dietary exposure of pesticide residues for children closely.

Transfer of Pesticide Residues from Grapes (Vitis vinifera) into Wine-Correlation with Selected Physicochemical Properties of the Active Substances.

The concentration of pesticide residues in agricultural products at harvest can change during subsequent processing steps. This change, commonly expressed as Processing Factor (PF), is influenced by the raw agricultural commodity, and the processing conditions, as well as the properties of the substances. As it is not possible to conduct processing studies for all possible combinations of pesticide × process × product, new approaches for determining processing factors are needed. Wine was chosen as the object of the present study because it is a widely consumed product. Furthermore, it is already known that the concentration of pesticide residues can change considerably during the processing of grapes into wine, substantiating the need for PFs for a large number of pesticides. The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between selected physicochemical properties and PFs. In addition, the influence of different winemaking processes was explored. For this purpose, 70 processing studies conducted by pesticide manufacturers in the framework of regulatory procedures were evaluated in detail and PFs were derived for 20 pesticides. For wine, a good correlation between the PF and the octanol-water partition coefficient of the substances was found, depending on the specific production methods used. Exemplarily, the coefficient of determination for white wine was 0.85, and 0.81 for red wine, when thermovinification was applied. These results can serve as the basis for a predictive model to be validated further with future winemaking studies for pesticides.

Processing factors of pesticide residues in biscuits and their relation to the physicochemical properties of pesticides

ABSTRACT Agricultural commodities are generally consumed as processed food. Therefore, it is indispensable to assess pesticide residues in processed products rather than only in the raw agricultural commodity, in order to approach a more realistic scenario of dietary exposure. Processing factors are important tools for dietary exposure risk assessments. In this study, processing factors for the baking process were derived for 41 pesticides in cereal bran-based biscuits. The raw materials used consisted of wheat, rye, oat, and barley grains with incurred pesticides, which originally was produced for test material for European Union Proficiency Tests. Information on physicochemical properties of pesticides was collected for understanding the fate of pesticides during the baking process. Average processing factors varied between 0.67 and 1.6. Most pesticide residues exhibited a reduction of pesticide residues of less than 24%, which correspond to a processing factor (PF) range between 1 and 0.76, showing resistance to the baking process. However, for polar compounds such as carbendazim and volatile compounds (chlorpyrifos-methyl, malathion, and pirimiphos-methyl) larger reduction rates were observed, up to 33% (PF: 0.67). In general, a prolonged baking time did not significantly affect the PF, because the main degradation process takes place within the first 6 min. However, this was not the case for the highly volatile compounds, highly polar compounds, and compounds of low degradation temperature. These latter were significantly reduced with prolonged baking time, resulting in a reduction rate of up to 95%, which means an almost complete elimination.

Identification of a pesticide exposure based market basket suitable for cumulative dietary risk assessments and food monitoring programmes

ABSTRACT Consideration of cumulative dietary risks is a requirement in the European legislation for setting maximum residue levels for pesticides. Current cumulative exposure assessment methodologies strongly rely on representative occurrence data from food monitoring programmes. This study provides a sensitivity analysis, utilising (i) European consumption data expressed as raw agricultural commodity (RAC) equivalents from 23 different countries as published by the European Food Safety Authority and (ii) all maximum residue levels established for pesticides under European Regulation (EC) No 396/2005. Based on two different degrees of conservatism, market baskets consisting of 16 or 41 RACs, respectively, were identified, covering the majority of the total chronic and acute daily exposure. The coverage of the exposure by these market baskets was tested by comparison of cumulative probabilistic exposure assessments for the German population using all food commodities and those using the reduced sets. It was demonstrated that ≥85% of the total chronic exposure is already covered by 16 RACs, while 41 RACs are required to reach a similarly satisfying coverage of the total acute exposure. Results from this study support resource efficient modelling of complex cumulative assessment scenarios and may help to improve the design of food monitoring programmes with respect to a more efficient assessment of potential consumer risks.

Reduction in pathogenic load of wheat by tempering with saline organic acid solutions at different seasonal temperatures

As a raw agricultural commodity, wheat is exposed to microbial contamination; therefore, enteric pathogens may be among its microbiota creating a food safety risk in milled products. This research evaluates (1) the effectiveness of organic acids dissolved in saline solutions to reduce the counts of pathogenic microorganisms in soft and hard wheat, and also investigates the effect of seasonal temperature on (2) survivability of pathogens in wheat kernels and on (3) pathogen inactivation during tempering with saline organic acid solutions. Wheat samples were inoculated with cocktails of either 5 serovars of Salmonella enterica, 5 E. coli O157:H7 or 6 non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) strains to achieve a concentration of ~7 log CFU/g. Inoculated samples were allowed to stand for 7-days at temperatures (2.0, 10.8, 24.2, 32 °C) corresponding to those experienced during winter, spring/fall, and summer (average and maximum) in the main wheat growing regions in the state of Nebraska, USA. Besides water, solutions containing acid (acetic or lactic 2.5% or 5.0% v/v) and NaCl (~26% w/v) were used for tempering the wheat to 15.0% (soft) and 15.5% (hard) moisture at the different seasonal temperatures. The survival of pathogenic microorganisms throughout the resting period, and before and after tempering was analyzed by plating samples on injury-recovery media. The survival rate of pathogenic microorganisms on wheat kernels was higher at temperatures experienced during the winter (2.0 °C) and spring/fall (10.8 °C) months. Regardless of tempering temperature, the initial pathogen load was reduced significantly by all solutions when compared to the control tempered with water (P ≤ .05). The combination of lactic acid (5.0%) and NaCl was the most effective treatment against Salmonella enterica, E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 STEC, with average reduction values of 1.8, 1.8 and 1.6 log CFU/g for soft wheat and 2.6, 2.4 and 2.4 log CFU/g for hard wheat, respectively. Implementation of organic acids and NaCl in tempering water may have the potential to reduce the risk of pathogen contamination in milled products.

Database of processing techniques and processing factors compatible with the EFSA food classification and description system FoodEx2 related to pesticide residues Objective 2: Linking the processing techniques investigated in regulatory studies with the EFSA food classification and description system, FoodEx2

In the framework of the project ’Database of processing techniques and processing factors compatible with the EFSA food classification and description system FoodEx2‘ a compendium of representative processing techniques was prepared as a result of Objective 1. In Objective 2 the food / feed items and processes as described in the compendium of Objective 1 were coded using the FoodEx2 coding system. The coding covers the raw agricultural commodities and the food / feed items obtained after processing. Additionally a key facet was added in order to be able to link food and feed items to the EFSA RAC (Raw Agricultural Commodity)-model. The RAC-model links the food items as coded in the consumption data to raw agricultural commodities. Food items in this model are also coded using the FoodEx2 coding system. The sources used to code the foods, feeds and processes are described, as well as the coding decisions.

Compilation of processing factors and evaluation of quality controlled data of food processing studies

Often, agricultural commodities are not eaten raw but undergo processing operations prior to human consumption. These may significantly affect the residue levels of pesticides contained therein and/or thereon. Due to the physico-chemical properties of the residue, its concentration may decrease or increase in processed fractions compared to the initial concentration in the raw agricultural commodity (RAC). The resulting ratio between processed fraction and RAC is denoted as processing factor (Pf). Information obtained from processing studies may serve for 2 different purposes: to decide on compliance of residues in processed products with legal standards for the RAC, and to refine dietary exposure estimation of humans and livestock with respect to residues in processed products. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) extracted and compiled the results of several processing studies, the full reports of which had been made available to BfR in the framework of applications either for pesticide authorisation, for the setting of maximum residue levels (MRL), or within the EU active substances approval programme. Each Pf derived from processing studies was reviewed against transparent quality criteria and statements have been made regarding the robustness and reliability of the study results. Compared to the former version, the revised BfR database includes a more extended, more detailed and more trustworthy compilation of more than 6500 processing factors accompanied by relevant information on key parameters of the underlying processing studies.

Differential Export Taxes along the Oilseeds Value Chain: A Partial Equilibrium Analysis

Differential Export Tax (DET) rates, or the policy of imposing high export taxes on raw commodities and low export taxes on processed goods, generate public revenues and promote production at the more processed stages of a value chain. We study the theoretical justification of this trade policy by designing a simple international trade model which shows that a tax on exports of a raw agricultural commodity in a country that exports seeds and vegetable oils increases the sum of final consumers' surplus, processing sector profits, farmers' surplus, and public revenues. We then develop a partial equilibrium model of the world's oilseed value chain and simulate the total elimination of DETs in Argentina and Indonesia, as well as the independent removal of export taxes at various stages of production in the same countries. Estimations show that removing export taxes along the entire value chain in Argentina and Indonesia reduces the local production of biofuels by only 0.4% in Argentina, while eliminating only the export tax on biofuels in Argentina leads to a 9.6% volume increase in Argentinean biofuels production.

Dietary Habits and Exposure to Pesticides in Dutch Infants

Background: Children are known to have higher dietary exposure levels to pesticide residues than adults due to higher consumption levels per kilogram bodyweight. Also social concern exists on the effects of these residues in young children, who are growing rapidly. To assess whether a certain compound may pose a risk for young children, it is important to have consumption levels of the foods that may contain the compound of interest in this age group. In the Netherlands food consumption data are available of children from 1 year onwards. However, the majority of children (if not all) already consume solid foods before age 1. Aims: Performance of a food consumption survey among Dutch infants aged 8 12 months gathering data on food consumption levels, and measuring and estimating the dietary exposure to selected pesticide residues Approach: Food consumption data were collected using a 1-daydietary record method. Weighing scales were provided, so that the amount consumed could be quantified accurately. During the study also duplicate portions of all the foods consumed by the Grey Literature European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety, 4(1): 4-5, 2014 5 children during the study day were collected. These duplicate portions were analysed for 19pesticides at the RIKILT Institute of Food Safety to estimate the real intake of pesticides. Results: In total 373 infants (186 girls and 187 boys) were included. The fruit most eaten by this age group was banana (58%), followed by apple (34%), pear (28%) and kiwi (20%). Carrot (18%) was the most favorite vegetable, followed by broccoli (9%) and green beans (8%). Potato was also consumed frequently (49%). Of all the fruits and vegetables consumed by the children large portion sizes (LPs) were calculated at the level of the raw agricultural commodity. These LPs can be used in the point estimate approach to assess the acute dietary intake of toxic pesticide residues in the field of pesticide regulation. The infant food consumption database can also be used for probabilistic modelling of acute dietary exposure. Of 250 infants the duplicate portions were analysed for 19 pesticides. Of these samples a significant percentage (11%) had a low exposure to one or more pesticides. None of the exposures exceeded the toxicological reference level (acceptable daily intake (ADI) or acute reference dose (ARfD)). Conclusion: This study among infants resulted in a first impression of actual intake levels of pesticide residues by this age group in the Netherlands via the diet, an estimate of the LPs of fruits and vegetables consumed by young children for use in the point estimate approach and a database with consumption levels useful for probabilistic exposure assessments. Furthermore the duplicate portions collected can be used for the analysis of other compounds that may affect the development of young growing children (e.g. deoxynivalenol (DON), acrylamide, heavy metals). The complete report can be downloaded for free from http://edepot.wur.nl/44408. Full report is also available as ‘Supplementary File’.

Differential Export Taxes Along the Oilseeds Value Chain: A Partial Equilibrium Analysis

This research has been undertaken to understand the rationale for the implementation of decreasing export taxes along the value chain in middle-income countries, in particular in the oilseeds value chain. This paper studies the implementation of Differential Export Tax (DET) rates along value chains, in particular in the oilseeds chain (seeds/vegetable oils/biodiesel); this trade policy consists of relatively high export taxes on raw commodities and relatively low taxes on processed goods. This policy may generate public revenues and benefit final consumption by lowering domestic prices of vegetable oils and biodiesel and also promotes production at more processed stages of transformation, particularly in response to tariff escalation by importing partners. The authors first study the theoretical justification of this trade policy with a simple international trade model. It shows how implementing a tax on exports of raw agricultural commodity in a country exporting seeds and vegetable oils augments the sum of profits and final consumers’ surplus in the processing sector, of farmers’ surplus, and of public revenues. Then the authors develop a world partial equilibrium model of the oilseed value chain that illustrates these theoretical conclusions. They simulate (1) the elimination of DETs in Argentina, Indonesia, and Ukraine; (2) the elimination of import tariffs applied by the European Union (EU) and the United States on the same goods; and (3) the elimination of DETs in Argentina, Indonesia, and Ukraine and of import tariffs applied by the EU and the United States. According to the authors’ estimates, both consumers and producers throughout the world benefit from the removal of export taxes in these value chains: US$931 million and US$2.2 billion, respectively. The third scenario leads to a significant expansion of world production of all activities along the value chain, including the production of biodiesel for which world output would expand by 1 percent.

Probabilistic risk assessment of dietary exposure to single and multiple pesticide residues or contaminants: Summary of the work performed within the SAFE FOODS project

This introduction to the journal’s supplement on probabilistic risk assessment of single and multiple exposure to pesticide residues or contaminants summarizes the objectives and results of the work performed in work package 3 of the EU-funded project SAFE FOODS. Within this work package, we developed an electronic platform of food consumption and chemical concentration databases harmonised at raw agricultural commodity level. In this platform the databases are connected to probabilistic software to allow probabilistic modelling of dietary exposure in a standardised way. The usefulness of this platform is demonstrated in two papers, which describe the exposure to pesticides and glycoalkaloids in several European countries. Furthermore, an integrated probabilistic risk assessment (IPRA) model was developed: a new tool to integrate exposure and effect modelling, including uncertainty analyses. The use of this model was shown in a paper on the cumulative exposure to anti-androgen pesticides. Combined with a health impact prioritization system, developed within this work package to compare heath risks between chemicals, the IPRA tool can also be used to compare health risks between multiple chemicals in complex risk assessment situation such as risk–benefit and risk trade-off analyses. Both the electronic platform of databases as the IPRA model may proof to be powerful tools to tackle the challenges risk managers are or will be faced with in the future.

Harmonisation of food consumption data format for dietary exposure assessments of chemicals analysed in raw agricultural commodities

In this paper, we present an approach to format national food consumption data at raw agricultural commodity (RAC) level. In this way, the data is both formatted in a harmonised way given the comparability of RACs between countries, and suitable to assess the dietary exposure to chemicals analysed in RACs at a European level. In this approach, consumption data needs to be converted to edible part of RAC (e-RAC) level using a RAC conversion database. To subsequently use this data in exposure assessments, both e-RACs and RACs analysed in chemical control programmes should be classified via a uniform system. Furthermore, chemical concentrations in RACs may need to be converted to e-RAC level using processing factors. To illustrate the use of this approach, we describe how the Dutch RAC conversion database was used to convert consumption data of four national consumption surveys to e-RAC level, and the use of the FAO/WHO Codex Classification system of Foods and Animal Feeds to harmonise the classification. We demonstrate that this approach works well for pesticides and glycoalkaloids, and is an essential step forward in the harmonisation of risk assessment procedures within Europe when addressing chemicals analysed in RACs by all national food control systems.

Probabilistic acute dietary exposure assessments to captan and tolylfluanid using several European food consumption and pesticide concentration databases

Probabilistic dietary acute exposure assessments of captan and tolylfluanid were performed for the populations of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. The basis for these assessments was national databases for food consumption and pesticide concentration data harmonised at the level of raw agricultural commodity. Data were obtained from national food consumption surveys and national monitoring programmes and organised in an electronic platform of databases connected to probabilistic software. The exposure assessments were conducted by linking national food consumption data either (1) to national pesticide concentration data or (2) to a pooled database containing all national pesticide concentration data. We show that with this tool national exposure assessments can be performed in a harmonised way and that pesticide concentrations of other countries can be linked to national food consumption surveys. In this way it is possible to exchange or merge concentration data between countries in situations of data scarcity. This electronic platform in connection with probabilistic software can be seen as a prototype of a data warehouse, including a harmonised approach for dietary exposure modelling.

Licensing of Raw Agricultural Commodity Fumigation Applicators in Florida

PI-151, a 3-page fact sheet by Frederick M. Fishel, explains the licensing and regulation of persons who apply restricted use fumigant pesticides to raw agricultural commodities in Florida. Published by the UF Pesticide Information Office, February 2007.

General Approaches to Estimation of Dietary Exposure to Contaminants

The initial steps in estimating dietary exposure to contaminants include gathering the necessary expertise, clarifying the intent and purpose of the work, selecting a dietary exposure model, and gathering available pertinent information. Expertise is generally needed in chemistry, agriculture, toxicology, statistics, nutritional epidemiology, and computer software development. The goal might be to determine the average exposure of a population to contaminants, to identify demographic groups within a population that are especially vulnerable to a contaminant, to evaluate the regulation of agricultural and food-manufacturing practices, or to determine compliance with standards for local and/or imported foods. Examples of dietary exposure models include the core food model, directed core food model, large database model, raw agricultural commodity (RAC) model, regional diet model, duplicate diet model, and total diet composite model. Each model has advantages and disadvantages and different costs and resource requirements. Consideration of the sources and flow of selected contaminants though the food supply may help identify the best exposure model to use. Pertinent information that may already be available includes analytical data on contaminants in foods or commodities, government regulations pertaining to the levels of contaminants in foods, food-consumption data, data on the average body weights of age-gender groups (to express exposure on a body weight basis), and biochemical measures of contaminants or their residues/metabolites. Collecting available information helps to clearly define what critical information is missing so that the planned research can be most effective. Careful documentation of decisions and assumptions allows for recalculating exposure estimates with the same model using different decisions and assumptions; documentation also allows others to understand what was done and how to use the resulting intake estimates properly. Clearly identifying the limitations of the exposure model may provide justification for additional resources to further refine and improve the model.

Peanut Production in Systems Restricting Use of Pesticides Based on Carcinogenicity or Leachability1

Abstract This research was conducted to determine the short-term impact of potential broad sweeping changes in pesticide registrations on peanut production and to compare and improve pest management systems for peanuts. In this research, detailed records on production inputs and returns were kept to access the short-term economic impact of each of six production systems differing in pesticide use. The preventative management strategy required additional pesticide inputs and averaged $180 per hectare less return when compared to the non-restrictive IPM program. When non-restrictive IPM programs were compared to IPM systems that eliminated carcinogens, return to management per hectare declined $1010 and $516 for the cultivars Florunner and Southern Runner respectively. The exclusion of the fungicide chlorothalonil was the primary reason for this loss in revenue. Elimination of compounds most likely to leach, based on their relative leaching potential, had minimal impact on peanut production. All test locations had low nematode pressures. The organic production strategy had the highest pre-harvest variable costs, due to the high input of hand labor required for weeding. To produce returns similar to an unrestricted IPM system, a raw agricultural commodity price 1.95 times that of the IPM system would have to be offered to organic growers.

Interactions of a Parasite, Bracon hebetor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), and a Predator, Xylocoris flavipes Hemiptera: Anthocoridae), with Populations of Tribolium castaneum and Plodia interpunctella

A stored-product insect community including a parasite and a predator was evaluated to determine interactions that might exist and the degree of biological control achieved. The insect community was composed of the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella (Hubner); the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Herbst); Bracon hebetor, a parasite; and Xylocorisflavipes, a predator, on a substrate of shelled corn. Bracon hebetor was an ineffective parasite of the Indian meal moth. The red flour beetle was opportunistic and increased its population numbers by feeding on parasitized and dead and moribund Indian meal moths. Because of the strong interaction between the Indian meal moth and the red flour beetle, the interactions of the parasite and predator with the hosts were obscured. INTRODUCTION Recently, two insect species with potential as biological control agents have come to the attention of researchers working with postharvest insect pests. The predaceous bug, Xylocorisflavipes (Reuter), preys on most immature stages of many species of postharvest Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Jay et al., 1968; Press et al., 1975; Arbogast, 1976; LeCato et al., 1977). The parasitic wasp, Bracon hebetor Say, is a natural enemy of the migrating larvae of postharvest pyralid moths (Morrill, 1942). Press et al. (1974a and 1974b) attempted to use X. flavipes and B. hebetor simultaneously to enhance the management of Cadra cautella (Walker) the almond moth, and Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) the Indian meal moth. These studies indicated that X. flavipes fed on the immature siages of the parasite as well as on moth eggs and larvae. Other studies have shown that X. flavipes is effective as a predator of the exposed larvae of stored-product pests, preferring the larger larvae of smaller species and the smaller larvae of larger species and that its predaceous activities are influenced by the size of the interstitial spaces allowing for freedom of movement in the food (habitat of the prey) (LeCato and Davis, 1973; Press et al., 1973; LeCato, 1975; and Press et al., 1978). Thus as postharvest moths are largely surface dwellers and postharvest beetles tend to disperse throughout the depth of a raw agricultural commodity, it may be the predator occupies space other than that of the parasite. The purpose of our study was to determine if these natural enemies of postharvest pests occupy different niches in the presence of their preferred hosts and if they interact. MATERIALS AND METHODS Xylocorisflavipes, Bracon hebetor and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) the red flour beetle, the host for X. flavipes in this study, were obtained from stock colonies maintained at the Stored-Product Insects Research and Development Laboratory, Savannah, Georgia. Bracon hebetor and X. flavipes were reared on the last instar larvae and eggs of the Indian 1Present address: Agricultural University of Warsaw, 02-776 Warsaw, 02-766 Warsaw wl. Nowoursynowska 166, Poland. 2Research entomologist.

Canning operations that reduce insecticide levels in prepared foods and in solid food wastes.

Pesticide residue tolerances established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration apply to the raw agricultural commodity. Canned or frozen food products are not specifically mentioned in the detailed regulations listing the tolerances. The law simply provides that no action will be taken against a processed food if the residues are within tolerance and if the pesticide compounds have been removed to the extent possible in good manufacturing practice.KeywordsPesticide ResiduePercent RemovalCompost ProcessGreen BeanJuice ExtractionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.