Pesticide multi-residue analysis and short-term dietary risk assessment in bananas

To evaluate the pesticide residues in bananas and short-term dietary risk, 196 samples were analyzed and short-term dietary risk to adult and children (1-6 years) was calculated. The most frequently detected pesticides in whole bananas were prochloraz (42.86%), pyraclostrobin (40.82%), imidacloprid (34.69%) and carbendazim (27.55%), and neonicotinoids (45.92%) and strobilurins (45.41%) were the most frequently detected pesticide groups. According to the MRLs of China, the residues of imidacloprid in 21 samples, fenbuconazole in 2 samples, and thiamethoxam in 2 samples exceeded the corresponding MRLs. Two or more pesticide residues were detected in 56.63% of the whole banana samples, and binary and ternary pesticide combinations accounted for the highest proportion. The most frequently detected binary and ternary pesticide combinations were pyraclostrobin/prochloraz, pyraclostrobin/imidacloprid, pyraclostrobin/imidacloprid/prochloraz, and pyraclostrobin/carbendazim/prochloraz. Imidacloprid (31.03%) was the most frequently detected pesticide and neonicotinoids (32.18%) was the most frequently detected pesticide group in banana pulp samples. The most frequently detected pesticide combinations in pulp samples were fenbuconazole/imidacloprid (3.45%) and tebuconazole/imidacloprid (2.30%). The short-term dietary risk (%ARfD) of pesticide residues in banana pulp for all populations were far below 100%, which indicated that there were no unacceptable short-term dietary risk to human beings through banana consumption.