Investigation and analysis of pesticide residues in edible fungi produced in the mid-western region of China

The present study sought to investigate the levels of multi-pesticide residues in highly consumed edible fungi in China's western regions. A total of 354 edible fungi samples were collected from the local markets, and the concentrations of 53 pesticides in these samples were determined through high performance liquid chroma-tography mass spectrometer (HPLC/MS/MS). Carbendazim, acephate, procymidone, prochloraz, aldicarb sul-fone,etc. were found to be the primary pesticides in the edible fungi samples. Carbendazim had the highest detection rate (70.9%), followed by acephate (13.0%) and procymidone (7.3%), and the detection concentrations were 0.0002-2.7316 mg/kg, 0.0248-0.4985 mg/kg, 0.1807-0.3928 mg/kg, respectively. Nearly 52 (14.7%) edible fungi samples were free of pesticide residues, while the remaining contained one or more pesticide res-idues. In terms of safety index and risk coefficient, the safety status of edible fungi is acceptable. This study will provide insights into the current contamination status in the key agricultural areas in China and develop food safety regulations to control the excessive use of some pesticides on edible fungi.