Risk assessment of 369 pesticide residues in banana from Hainan province of China through UPLC-Q-TOF/MS

In this study, residues of 369 pesticides were determined in 123 banana samples by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS/MS to evaluate the potential risk of pesticide residues in bananas and investigate the quality and safety situation in Hainan province, China. The results indicated that 107 samples contained 1-10 residues. Insecticides and fungicides were the groups with the highest detection frequencies in bananas. The most frequently detected pesticides in bananas were pyraclostrobin (50.41%), prochloraz (38.21%), imidacloprid (33.33%), acetamiprid (25.20%) and carbendazim (19.51%); 13 samples were unqualified with the failure rate 10.57%. The index of food safety (IFS) of all detected pesticides in bananas was less than 1, and the value of the acute reference dose (ARfD) and acceptable daily intake (ADI) of pesticide residues detected in different populations were less than 100%, indicating an acceptable safety risk of the pesticide residues. As for risk coefficient (R), there was a high early warning risk for fluxapyroxad and imidacloprid, as well as a moderate early warning risk for propiconazole. According to the risk ranking, we found 3 kinds of medium-risk pesticides, including acetamiprid, difenoconazole and prochloraz. They should be considered in the key control risk factors and continuously monitored to protect people's health. However, undue concern was unnecessary since the assessment was based on a conservative assumption.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the potential risk of pesticide residues in bananas and investigated the quality and safety situation in Hainan province, China by analyzing 369 pesticides in 123 banana samples. The results showed that most samples contained 1-10 residues, with insecticides and fungicides being the most frequently detected groups. The detected pesticide residues in bananas were found to have acceptable safety risk based on the index of food safety. However, there were some medium-risk pesticides that should be continuously monitored to protect people's health.