Risk Assessment of Pesticide Residues Using Food Commodity Intakes Calculated by KFCIC Software

Introduction: Estimation of the food commodity intake is important for risk assessment of hazardous substance in foods such as pesticide residues. However, estimation of the food commodity intake is not easy since normal diets are composed of not only commodity-type foods but also mixed and processed foods. Herein, the Korea Food Commodity Intake Calculation (KFCIC) software to estimate the food commodity intake using database of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) has been developed. The KFCIC software has been designed to segregate food consumption data from the KNHANES further into food commodity levels.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk assessment of pesticide residues using the food commodity intake data calculated by the KFCIC software.

Methods: Several representative food commodities such as rice, potato, apple, peach, cucumber, tomato and perilla leaf were selected to determine their exposure to pesticide residues. The calculated items were the average values in the database of KNHANES in 2008~2012.

Results: The average daily intakes of rice, potato, apple, peach, cucumber, tomato and perilla leaf were 217.72 g, 19.74 g, 32.05 g, 9.28 g, 11.80 g, 16.80 g and 3.20 g, respectively, which were utilized to determine their exposure to several pesticide residues. The average amount of pesticide residues was 0.101 mg/kg which was evaluated by monitoring the pesticide residues of commercial agricultural products. As a result, the amounts of pesticide residues were ranged between 0.021 and 1.898% of hazard index (% ADI). Further assessment proved that the risks of the pesticide residues were in very low level.

Significance: This study will prove that the KFCIC software can be an excellent tool to estimate food commodity intakes which are the basic resources to access human exposures to hazardous contaminants such as pesticide residues and their potential risks.