Monitoring of Organochlorine Pesticides and Certain Heavy Metal Residues in Selected Vegetables and Fruits Collected from Eastern Libyan Markets

• Ifdial Omer EL-Awami

  Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Omar Al-Mukhtar University -Al-Bayda, Libya

  Author

• Rabaha M. ELJarari

  Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Omar Al-Mukhtar University -Al-Bayda, Libya

  Author

Organochlorine pesticides are among the most common pollutants in the environment due to their high persistence, transportation throughout the food chain, and accumulation in the tissues of living organisms. This study was carried out owing to the lack of data on the residue levels of these pesticides and the heavy metals in vegetables and fruits that are present in the markets of the Eastern region of Libya, and to know the extent of their hazard to the health of the consumer by comparing them to the global Maximum Residue Limits. The results of analysis of some organochlorine pesticide residues (Chlordene, delta-HCH, gamma-HCH, beta-HCH, Dicofol, Endosulfan, P, P´-DDE, P´P´, DDD, Endrin,  Heptachlor) and heavy metals in vegetable and fruit in Derna, El-Beida, and Al-Marg markets showed high significant differences between samples collected among seasons, where spring samples was more contaminated followed by autumn and summer. Also, Derna city was the most polluted area, followed by El-Beida and then Al-Marg. On the other hand, tomato samples contained the highest concentrations of lead and differed significantly from cucumbers, peppers, and lettuce. Zucchini was the least contaminated crop with lead but was the highest contaminated with zinc. By comparing pollution levels with the MRL globally, not all tested vegetables and fruits showed that they contained quantities higher than the internationally permissible limit in all regions and all seasons. Excluding Dicofol, Chlordene, and Heptachlor, which exceeded MRL in some vegetables and fruit such as tomato and zucchini.

Alengebawy, A., Abdelkhalek, S. T., Qureshi, S. R., & Wang, M.-Q. (2021). Heavy metals and pesticides toxicity in agricultural soil and plants: Ecological risks and human health implications. Toxics, 9(3), 42.

Bempah, C. K., Buah-Kwofie, A., Enimil, E., Blewu, B., & Agyei-Martey, G. (2012). Residues of organochlorine pesticides in vegetables marketed in Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Food control, 25(2), 537-542.

de la Santé, O. M. (1992). International Programme on Chemical Safety. Environmental Health Criteria, 101.

Dogheim, S., El-Marsafy, A., Salama, E., Gadalla, S., & Nabil, Y. (2002). Monitoring of pesticide residues in Egyptian fruits and vegetables during 1997. Food Additives & Contaminants, 19(11), 1015-1027.

Dogheim, S. M., Gad Alla, S. A., & El-Marsafy, A. M. (2001). Monitoring of pesticide residues in Egyptian fruits and vegetables during 1996. Journal of AOAC international, 84(2), 519-531.

Dogheim, S. M., Nasr, E. N., Almaz, M. M., & EL-Tohamy, M. M. (1990). Pesticide residues in milk and fish samples collected from two Egyptian governorates. Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 73(1), 19-21.

Ekström, G., & Åkerblom, M. (1990). Pesticide management in food and water safety: international contributions and national approaches. Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology, 23-55.

El-Lakwah, F., Hamed, M., & Darwish, A. (1995). Determination of certain organochlorine and organphosphorus pesticide residues in home-produced tomatoes and cucumbers used for consumption in two Egyptian governorates [Egypt]. Annals of Agricltural Science, Moshtohor (Egypt).33(1): 399-407.

Fan, M., & Alexeeff, G. (1999). Public health goal for endrin in drinking water (pp. 5–6). Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency.

Kolani, L., Mawussi, G., & Sanda, K. (2016). Assessment of organochlorine pesticide residues in vegetable samples from some agricultural areas in Togo. American Journal of Analytical Chemistry, 7(4), 332-341.

Leoni, V., Caricchia, A., Comi, R., Martini, F., Rodolico, S., & Vitali, M. (1995). Risk assessment of organophosphorus pesticide dietary intake for the population of the city of Rome (Italy). Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology, 54(6), 870-877.

M Usman, T., Salma Iqbal, N., & Salma, R. (2009). A quantitative analysis for the toxic pesticide residues in marketed fruits and vegetables in Lahore, Pakistan, Biomedical, 24,171-174..

Nguyen, T. D., Lee, K. J., Lee, M. H., & Lee, G. H. (2010). A multiresidue method for the determination 234 pesticides in Korean herbs using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Microchemical Journal, 95(1), 43-49.

Nguyen, T. D., Yu, J. E., Lee, D. M., & Lee, G.-H. (2008). A multiresidue method for the determination of 107 pesticides in cabbage and radish using QuEChERS sample preparation method and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Food Chemistry, 110(1), 207-213.

Olisah, C., Okoh, O. O., & Okoh, A. I. (2020). Occurrence of organochlorine pesticide residues in biological and environmental matrices in Africa: A two-decade review. Heliyon, 6(3), e03518.

QuEChERS, A. (2008). Mini-Multiresidue Method for the Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Low-Fat Products

Sawaya, W., Al-Awadhi, F., Saeed, T., Al-Omair, A., Ahmad, N., Husain, A., Khalafawi, S., Al-Zenki, S., Al-Amiri, H., & Al-Otaibi, J. (1999). Dietary intake of pesticides: State of Kuwait total diet study. Food Additives & Contaminants, 16(11), 473-480.

Selim, A., Zidan, Z., & Mohamed, K. (1996). Detection of insecticide residues in market basket of vegetables and fruits surveyed at kalubia governorate, Egypt. Annals of Agricultural Science, Ain-Shams Univ.(Egypt). 41(2): 961-971.

Trotter, W. J., & Dickerson, R. (1993). Pesticide residues in composited milk collected through the US pasteurized milk network. Journal of AOAC international, 76(6), 1220-1225.

Zidan, Z., Mohamed, K., & Bayoumi, A. (2000). Market basket monitoring of pesticides residues on vegetables and fruits from Kalubia governorate, Egypt. Annals of Agricultural Science (Cairo), 45(2), 743-756.

• PDF (Arabic)

Copyright (c) 2021 Ifdial Omer EL-Awami , Rabaha M. ELJarari

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright of the articles Published by Almukhtar Journal of Science (MJSc) is retained by the author(s), who grant MJSc a license to publish the article. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors and cite MJSc as the original publisher. Also, they accept the article remains published by the MJSc website (except in the occasion of a retraction of the article).