PESTICIDE RESIDUALS IN FOOD

摘要

Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for permitting, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest (US Environmental Protection Agency, USEPA). Pesticides are classified according to target organism (eg: herbicides, insecticides,fungicides, rodenticides), chemical structure, bio pesticides, physical state, plant derived pesticides etc. Insecticides kill or prevent the growth of insects, herbicides control or destroy plants. Fungicides control or destroy fungi. Pesticides are often referred to according to the type of pest they control. Pesticides can also be considered as either biodegradable pesticides which could be broken down by microbes and other living beings into harmless compounds or persistent pesticides which may take months or years together before they are broken down. Pesticides continue to be used at various stages of crop development, on a large scale to mitigate or limit the economic losses associated with decreases in crop yields that are caused by noxious insects, fungi, weeds or other pests. When applied improperly, residues of some of these pesticides can remain on foods and as such can pose a significant hazard to human health. In most countries the sale, distribution, and ultimately the application andend use of these chemical and biological poisons are strictly controlled by law. Based on the use of pesticides EPA established a tolerance level, a legal limit of pesticide residue at harvest.