Health risk assessment of selected pesticide residues in green pepper and cucumber

This report describes levels of 170 pesticide residues in green pepper and cucumber marketed in Turkey. The report also comprises the outcome of the consumer risk assessment of selected pesticides. In total, 725 samples of vegetables were analysed for residues of 170 distinct pesticides by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The in-house validation data fulfilled the requirements of the European SANTE/11945/2015 Guideline. The limit of quantifications (LOQs) varied from 0.003 to 0.016 mg kg-1. Recoveries ranged between 80.5 and 118.2%, with inter-day precisions of 0.7-19% relative standard deviation (RSD). The expanded measurement uncertainty for individual pesticides ranged from 10.4 to 42.4%. Overall, 12.9% of green peppers and 13.5% of cucumbers contained at least one detectable residue, but the levels were below the EU legal limits. For adults, the Hazard Quotients (HQs) for identified pesticides in green peppers and cucumbers ranged from 0.0003 to 0.0143%, and from 0.0001 to 0.0103%, respectively. Propamocarb and chlorpyrifos were the major contributors to hazard index (HI) for green pepper and cucumber, respectively. The results showed that there is no reason to be concerned about cumulative exposure to residues from green pepper and cucumbers for Turkish population.