Monitoring Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables at Two of the Biggest Fresh Produce Markets in Africa.

In most countries, fresh produce sold at local markets is usually not analyzed for agricultural chemical residues as export products are, which raises concerns about the perceived safety levels of local food supplies in contrast with exported products. The aim of this study was to determine pesticide residue levels in fruits and vegetables sold at two of the biggest fresh produce markets in Africa. A total of 199 fruit and vegetable samples were collected between 2012 and 2014 and analyzed for 74 pesticides commonly used in the horticultural sector.

Pesticide residues and estrogenic activity in fruit and vegetables sampled from major fresh produce markets in South Africa.

Food is likely to be one of the major pathways through which people are exposed to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. With the exception of residual effects, there are concerns that a number of naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals exert adverse effects upon endocrine systems in wildlife and humans. The current study reports selected pesticide concentrations and the total estrogenic activity of fruit and vegetables using the recombinant yeast oestrogen screen (YES) and T47D-KBluc reporter gene assays.