Detection of pesticide residues in Philippine aquaculture products

Abstract

Detection and monitoring of pesticide residues in aquaculture-derived products are important considerations for the safety and health of consumers. A study was conducted with the aim of developing, standardizing and validating analytical methods for sampling, extraction, and quantification of pesticide residues in aquaculture products. Another objective of the study was to assess the extent of pesticide contamination in aquaculture products from selected aquaculture sites (seven provinces) in the Philippines. Various extraction techniques and clean-up procedures for some aquaculture products (fatty fish, non-fatty fish, plant material) were standardized. The recovery and efficiency, detection limit and reproducibility of the methods for 28 pesticide residues were established. A total of 10 brackishwater and 8 freshwater aquaculture species (819 samples) from urban, rural/agricultural and rural/non-agricultural sites were sampled during the dry and wet seasons. For the dry season samples, no significant detectable concentration of pesticide residues (28 residues) were detected in the aquaculture products (shrimps, milkfish, grouper, sea bass, rabbitfish, mud crab, catfish, tilapia, silver carp, climbing perch, goby, mussel, oyster and seaweed). For the wet season samples, no significant detectable concentration of the pesticide residues were detected in most of the aquaculture products. However, carbaryl, a carbamate, was detected in catfish (n=3) at 2.3 μg/g. Trace amount (<0.15 μg/g) of endosulfan I was detected in golden apple snails (n=5). Results of the assessment study showed that pesticide residue contamination of aquaculture products in the Philippines is not prevalent.