Pesticide Residues in Food and Drinking Water

This book explores human exposure and consumer risk assessment in response to issues surrounding pesticide residues in food and drinking water.

All the three main areas of consumer risk assessment including human toxicology, pesticide residue chemistry and dietary consumption are brought together and discussed.

• Includes the broader picture - the environmental fate of pesticides
• Takes an international approach with contributors from the European Union, USA and Australia
• Highlights the increasing concerns over food safety and the risks to humans

Contributors ix

Series Preface xi

Preface xiii

1 Introduction 1
Denis Hamilton and Stephen Crossley

2 Environmental Fate of Pesticides and the Consequences for Residues in Food and Drinking Water 27
Jack Holland and Phil Sinclair

3 Pesticide Metabolism in Crops and Livestock 63
Michael W. Skidmore and Árpád Ambrus

4 Effects of Food Preparation and Processing on Pesticide Residues in Commodities of Plant Origin 121
Gabriele Timme and Birgitt Walz-Tylla

5 Toxicological Assessment of Agricultural Pesticides 149
Mike Watson

6 Diets and Dietary Modelling for Dietary Exposure Assessment 167
J. Robert Tomerlin and Barbara J. Petersen

7 Chronic Intake 213
Les Davies, Michael O’Connor and Sheila Logan

8 Acute Intake 243
Kim Z. Travis Denis Hamilton, Les Davies, Matthew O’Mullane and Utz Mueller

9 Natural Toxicants as Pesticides 269
John A. Edgar

10 International Standards: The International Harmonization of Pesticide Residue Standards for Food and Drinking Water 295
Wim H. Van Eck

11 Explaining the Risks 339
Sir Colin Berry

Index 353

"...as someone working in the field, I will value this book as an excellent source of fundamental information..." (Chemistry & Industry, 15 Mar 2004)

"...very well-documented..." (International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Vol.84, No.14 - 15, 10 - 20 December 2004)

"...a concise and well-organised work..." (Applied Organometallic Chemistry, Vol 19 (9), September 2005)

Denis Hamilton is the editor of Pesticide Residues in Food and Drinking Water: Human Exposure and Risks, published by Wiley.

Stephen Crossley is the editor of Pesticide Residues in Food and Drinking Water: Human Exposure and Risks, published by Wiley. As consumers, we do not want pesticide residues in our food because they have no nutritional value and can potentially pose a risk to health. However, in order to ensure that a consistent supply of economical and high quality food is available, the use of pesticides is necessary and sometimes residues will remain in the food supply. As a compromise, we require that the amount of residue in our food and drinking water will not be harmful to our health and should be no more than absolutely necessary. Risk assessment, which uses scientific processes to meet these requirements, has progressed considerably in recent years.

This book describes the issues surrounding pesticide residues in food and drinking water and, in particular, the issues associated with human exposure and consumer risk assessment. In broad terms, consumer risk assessment encompasses three areas of scientific disciplines – human toxicology, pesticide residue chemistry and dietary consumption, all of which are explored in detail within this book.

Topics covered include the effects of pesticides on the environment, metabolism, food processing, toxicology, dietary consumption, chronic and acute dietary intakes, natural compounds, international standards and explaining the risks.

Pesticide Residues in Food and Drinking Water is the latest addition to the Wiley Series in Agrochemicals and Plant Protection. This series brings together current scientific and regulatory knowledge and perspectives on all aspects of the use of chemicals and biotechnology in agriculture.