Total diet study on pesticide residues in France: levels in food as consumed and chronic dietary risk to consumers.

Chronic dietary exposure to pesticide residues was assessed for the French population using a total diet study (TDS) to take into account realistic levels in foods as consumed at home (table-ready). Three hundred and twenty-five pesticides and their transformation products, grouped into 283 pesticides according to their residue definition, were sought in 1235 composite samples corresponding to 194 individual food items that cover 90% of the adult and child diet. To make up the composite samples, about 19,000 food products were bought during different seasons from 2007 to 2009 in 36 French cities and prepared according to the food preparation practices recorded in the individual and national consumption survey (INCA2).