Detection of pesticide residues and risk assessment from the local fruits and vegetables in Incheon, Korea

This study was conducted to investigate the pesticide residue concentrations and assess potential human health risks from fruit and vegetable consumption in Incheon. A total of 1,146 samples of 20 different types of fruits and vegetables were collected from the Incheon area in 2020. The pesticide residues were analyzed by the multi-residue method of the Korean Food Code for 400 different pesticides. Among the fruit and vegetable samples, 1,055 samples (92.1%) were free from detectable residues, while 91 samples (7.9%) contained residues and 11 samples (1.0%) had residues exceeding the Korean maximum residue limit. A total of 32 different pesticide residues were found and 8 residues exceeded MRLs. The most frequently detected pesticide residues were chlorfenapyr, procymidone, etofenprox, pendimethalin, fluopyram and azoxystrobin. The highest values of short term and long term exposure were obtained in the case of consumption of lettuce(leaves) with chlorfenpyr. For chronic dietary exposure, the cumulative hazard index (cHI) were below 100%. The results of this study showed that the detected pesticides were not exposed to potential health risks through the consumption of fruits and vegetables.