Pesticides in Foods : Part 2

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

(Page 2 of 3)

Incidence and Level Studies

When FDA wants to know more about specific pesticides, commodities, or pesticide-commodity combinations, the agency supplements its regulatory monitoring by analyzing selected samples of certain foods in incidence and level monitoring.

For the pesticide residue report, the authors used the results of two studies. One study targeted five specific commodity-pesticide combinations for infant foods and other foods commonly eaten by infants and children. The analyses for this study were directed by FDA and completed in 1990 through a cooperative agreement with a USDA laboratory in Gulfport, Miss. The other study, also in 1990, analyzed whole pasteurized milk samples through an FDA-supported contract.

Both studies included results of analyses of several pesticides and pesticide-commodity combinations that have been the focus of public attention within the last five years. No residues over EPA tolerances or FDA action levels were found in samples from either of the two studies.

The first study involved five tasks. In the first, about 900 samples of commercially prepared infant foods and formulas were collected and analyzed for residues of the following pesticides:

• benomyl-thiabendazole (fungicides)
• daminozide (sprayed on apple trees to prevent premature drop, no longer used by growers)
• ethylenethiourea (ETU, a breakdown product of a fungicide)
• aldicarb (an insecticide, acaricide against snails, and nematocide against worms)
• the organochlorine group of pesticides (older, more persistent pesticides, including those no longer used in foods).

The other four tasks were analyses of adult foods eaten by infants and children:

• apples, bananas, oranges, and pears for benomyl- thiabendazole
• apple and grape juices, applesauce, and canned pears for daminozide
• grape juice for ETU
• bananas, oranges, and orange juice for aldicarb.

Three-quarters of the samples collected for all tasks were from large retail grocery stores in six states — Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington. The remaining samples were collected in the Gulfport, Miss., area (the home of USDA's National Monitoring and Residue Analysis Laboratory, where the FDA-directed study was done). The prepared infant foods and formula samples were selected mostly from the major manufacturers.

The second study showed the results of sampling for residues of the organochlorine group of pesticides in whole pasteurized milk. Organochlorine pesticide residues — mostly DDT, DDE and dieldrin — were found in 398 of the 806 milk samples, but all were well below EPA tolerances or FDA action levels.

Samples for the milk study came from monthly collections at 63 sampling stations that are a part of EPA's Environmental Radiation Ambient Monitoring System, located in large metropolitan areas throughout the United States. At each sampling station, milk from selected sources was combined to represent the milk routinely consumed in that area. Portions of the milk were sent to an FDA contract laboratory for analysis.

Total Diet Study

For its report, FDA also used data from the Total Diet Study, which is used to monitor a number of nutritional concerns, including pesticides. As part of the Total Diet Study, FDA staffers shop in supermarkets or grocery stores four times a year, once in each of four geographical regions of the country. Shopping in three cities from each region, they buy the same 234 foods (including meat), selected from nationwide dietary survey data to typify the American diet. The purchased foods are called "market baskets."

Foods from the market baskets are then prepared as a consumer would prepare them. For example, beef and vegetable stew is made from the collected ingredients, using a standard recipe. The prepared foods are analyzed for pesticide residues, and the results, together with USDA consumption studies, are used to estimate the dietary intakes of pesticide residues for eight age-sex groups ranging from infants to senior citizens.

For their report, the FDA researchers included results from 27 market baskets collected and analyzed between 1985 and 1991. Included were 33 different infant foods (both strained and junior), 10 adult foods eaten by infants and children, and four types of milk. The infant foods included cereals, combination meat and poultry dinners, vegetables, desserts, fruits and fruit juices, and infant formulas. The adult foods included apples, oranges, pears, and bananas; apple, grape and orange juices; applesauce; grape jelly; and peanut butter. Milks were chocolate, evaporated, low-fat (2 percent), and whole.

No residues were found in the infant formulas, and no residues over EPA tolerances or FDA action levels were found in any of the Total Diet Study foods. Low levels of malathion were found in some cereals because malathion is widely used both before and after harvest on grains. Low levels of thiabendazole, a post-harvest fungicide used on many fruits, were found on some of the fruits and fruit products.

About the Author

www.fda.gov
FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.