Removal of Pesticide Residues from Okra Vegetable through Traditional Processing

Demand for vegetables in Pakistan is constantly increasing to feed growing population. Pakistan is the second largest producer of okra and in Sindh okra is produced throughout the year. Okra crop is attacked by variety of insect pests and commercial okra production relies heavily on the pesticides belonging to organochlorine, organophosphate, carbamate, pyrethroid and neo-nicotinoid groups for pest control. Moreover, growers do not observe safety interval for okra harvest. Hence the okra sold in Pakistani markets is highly contaminated with pesticide residues. Aim of this research study was to determine the extent of pesticide residue decontamination in okra vegetable through traditional processing. Okra crop was sprayed with bifenthrin, profenofos and endosulfan, and different processing were applied on okra such as washing, detergent washing, sun-drying and cooking, etc. Bifenthrin, profenofos and endosulfan pesticide residues were extracted from okra by solvent partitioning and cleaned up through Florisil column using organic solvents for elusion as described by EPA and FDA procedures. Cleaned up residues were analyzed through GC-µECD. The results revealed that endosulfan levels were reduced to MRL by detergent washing (from 2.01 ppm in unwashed samples to 1.03ppm). Profenofos residues (3.21ppm) were reduced to MRL (2.0ppm) by detergent washing and by combination of plain water washing and frying. Bifenthrin MRL is very low (0.04ppm) and only combination of detergent washing and frying reduced residues from 0.311 ppm to 0.042 ppm

Removal of Pesticide Residues from Okra Vegetable through Traditional Processing

The study has been designed to determine the extent of pesticide residues removal from okra through household processing. For this, okra crop was grown on university farm and application of pesticides were carried out at recommended dosage. After 24 hours, the okra was harvested, labeled and brought to the laboratory of Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam for their analyses and further processing such as washing, detergent washing, sun-drying and cooking, etc. being practiced at various households. Pesticide residues were extracted from okra by solvent partitioning and cleaned by C18 cartridges/activated charcoal by using acetonitrile for elution and then cleaned up residues were analyzed through HPLC-UV. The analysis of data revealed that imidacloprid is highly effective against pests at low dosages and its residues in processed as well as unprocessed okra samples were within MRLs (0.5ppm). Imidacloprid residues 0.31 ppm in unwashed okra was reduced to 0.082 ppm by detergent washing (73% removal). Emamectin benzoate residues were high in unwashed okra (0.51 ppm as against MRLs of 0.2ppm), however, its residues were reduced to MRLs by detergent washing and subsequent processing by frying, thermal dehydration or sun-drying of detergent washed okra