STUDY OF FOOD CONTAMINATION WITH PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN KALUBIA GOVERNORATE

Abstract

Twenty-nine different pesticide residues were investigated in a variety of food samples collected from three different locations at Kalubia governorate during four periods in 1999-2000. The obtained results showed that most of the analyzed food samples contained different residue levels of pesticides, according to food item, sampling location and the time during which the samples were examined. Organochlorine pesticides were the main contaminants of milk, meat and fish samples, while some samples contained traces of other pesticides. Fruit and vegetable •crops were contaminated with organophosphorous, pyrethroid and organochlorine pesticides. An experiment was conducted to estimate the influence of boiling process on stability of organochlorine pesticides in milk. The results indicate that the boiling process considerably reduced the organochlorine pesticide residues in milk. The effect of some household processes in removal of pesticide residues from selected fruits and vegetables was studied. The obtained results showed that all treatments reduced the pesticides residues at considerable amounts, but soaking in 0.4 % of potassium pern1anganate solution and peeling removed more residues than other treatments. On the other hand, laboratory bioassay experiments were carried out in Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Egypt, to test the effectiveness of nine insecticides against the adults of three zooplankton genera, i.e., Bosmina .1pp., Mesocyclops spp. and Cypris spp. The tested insecticides were methomyl, fenpropathrin, triazophos, esfenvalerate, chlorpyrifos, fenitrothion, profenofos, malathion and pirimiphos-