Dietary exposure risk assessment of 2,4-D for Chinese population

2,4-D is widely used as broadleaf weed herbicide, plant growth regulator and preservative for some fruits. To evaluate the 2,4-D dietary exposure risk in China, the chronic and acute assessment were conducted using the point evaluation method. In this study 554 batches of vegetables, 1 018 batches of fruit and 102 batches of food crop collected by the Ministry of Agriculture's Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Risk Assessment Laboratory (Hangzhou) were tested. The results showed that the 2,4-D residue was quite low (0.005 0-0.037 mg/kg).The detection rates, from high to low, were cherry (9.5%), tomato (9.0%), mango (4.1%), pepper (3.3%), citrus (3.3%), cucumber (3.3%) and bayberry (2.3%). 2,4-D was not detected in strawberry, kiwi fruit, eggplant, grape, soybean, wheat and corn. The chronic risk quotient was within 1.2%-2.1% concerning all kinds of food consumption for different groups of Chinese people. The acute risk quotient was within 0.001 6%-0.29%. In conclusion, the acute and chronic exposures are significantly lower than the acceptable reference dose, which means the exposure risk is quite low, and has not yet reached a health concern level.