Pesticides play a critical role in modern agriculture by protecting crops and ensuring higher yields, but their widespread use raises concerns about human health and environmental impact. Regulatory agencies impose Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) to ensure safety, and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) assesses pesticide risks. This study monitored pesticide residues in 169 feed samples from Piedmont (Italy) collected between 2019 and 2023.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShellfish sanitary controls are very important to guarantee consumer health because bivalve molluscs (BVM) are filter-feeders so they can accumulate pathogens, environmental contaminants and biotoxins produced by some algae, causing infections and food poisoning in humans after ingestion. The purpose of this work was to analyse with chemometric methods the historical data relating to routine analyses carried out by the competent authority (Liguria Local Health Unit, National Health Service) on the BVM reared in a shellfish farm located in the Gulf of La Spezia (Italy). Chemometric analysis was aimed at identifying any correlations between the variables, as well as any seasonal trends and similarities between the stations, in order to be able to provide further material for a more accurate risk assessment and to improve the monitoring organization for example by reducing sampling stations and/or sampling frequency.
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