ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN COWS' MILK FROM KARLOVAC COUNTY, CROATIA

The aim of this study was to determine the residue levels of the organochlorine pesticides in cows' milk from Karlovac County, Croatia. The study included 48 pooled milk samples: 40 pooled samples of non-processed (raw) milk and 8 pooled samples of processed milk collected in the Karlovac County from May 2003 until April 2004. Organochlorine pesticides DDT and derivates, HCH, lindane, heptachlor and endosulfan were determined using the GC-ECD method. The detection limit was 0.01 mu g kg(-1). The determined amounts of organochlorine pesticides were predominantly and significantly below the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) set by the European Union and which Croatia has also recently adopted as its standard. The study has confirmed pesticide persistence in milk samples from our country despite the fact that some of them have been banned some thirty years ago, which indicates a high degree of dispersion of this substances in the environment. Taking into account that milk is a foodstuff of high biological value consumed frequently and in large quantities by vulnerable groups of population (children, pregnant women, elderly people), the continued monitoring and control of organochlorine pesticides in milk is therefore of great importance for public health.