Abstract:
Cucumber is among the crops included in the Brazilian government program that monitors pesticides and similar chemical residues in food available at the retail market. The samples evaluated by the program include only cucumber for the fresh market, but not cucumber for the industrial processing as pickles. We aimed to carry out analysis of pesticide residues in pickling cucumbers samples, in natura and processed, in order to verify their compliance with the law. The samples of pickling cucumber were collected in November 18, 2013 in five municipalities of Alto Vale do Itajai, under the coordination of Epagri, Ituporanga Experimental Station, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Seven samples were collected: three samples of cucumbers in natura (one from a pesticide-free crop in the Epagri experimental area and two from conventional crop farms); four samples of processed cucumbers (one sample of organic cucumber and three samples of conventional cucumber). The identification of pesticide residues was carried out using the multiresidue method or specific methodologies used by the public health laboratories. The analytical determinations detected the presence of five unauthorized active ingredients for cucumber, namely carbendazim, fluopicolide, propachlor and propamocarb and concentrations of thiamethoxam above the limit allowed for the crop. Imidacloprid, another active ingredient found in the fruits, was within safe level. The pesticide residues were found only in samples of fruits from conventional crop, both in natura and industrialized. The results suggest that the improvement of sustainable production systems with more advantageous remuneration for farmers, coupled with strategies to increase the consumption of healthy foods, should be fomented in the productive chain.
Keywords:
Cucumis sativus; carbendazim; fluopicolide; propachlor; propamocarb; thiamethoxam.
