Health Risk Assessment of Pesticide Residues in Vegetables Collected from Upper Northeast Thailand

Abstract

This study aimed to monitor and assess the health risk from pesticide residue in vegetables planted in upper Northeast Thailand. Three types of vegetables, Chinese kale, tomato, and chili, were collected from 19 villages in Khon Kaen province, Nong Bua Lam Phu, Chaiyaphum, Bueng Kan, Nong Khai, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, and Sakon Nakhon province for pesticide residue analysis. All vegetables were sampled at the harvesting period from November 2021 to October 2022. A total of 80 vegetable samples were extracted using the quick easy cheap effective rugged and safe (QuEChERS) multi-residue extraction and analyzed for the presence of 228 pesticides using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) at the laboratory of the Office of Agricultural Research and Development Region 3. Assessing the risk of pesticide residues in vegetables was done by 2 methods: 1) assessing based on the type and amount of pesticide residues detected in vegetables compared to the maximum residue limit (MRL) and 2) assessing based on hazard index (HI) obtained by calculating of the estimated dietary intake (EDI) compared to the acceptable daily intake (ADI). The results showed that pesticide residues were found in 43 samples (53.75%) from 80 samples collected. Pesticide residues exceeded MRL in 12 samples (15.0%). There were 19, 12, and 5 types of pesticide residues found from samples of Chinese kale, chili, and tomato, respectively, and their amounts were detected at the range of 0.01-0.91, 0.01-1.81, and 0.01-0.05 mg/kg, respectively. The assessment of consumption risk in terms of HI showed that the HI of Chinese kale, chili, and tomato were 51.19, 6.66, and 21.30%, respectively. The results indicated that these vegetables could be considered as acceptable for food safety.