Monitoring of nitrate (NO(3)(-)) and nitrite (NO(2)(-)) content in agricultural products in Slovenia has been carried out since 1996. The results of monitoring over the period 1996-2002 are presented. During this time 924 samples of 14 different agricultural products (potato, lettuce, apples, carrot, silage maize, cabbage, grapes, peaches, string beans, cereals, pears, cucumbers, strawberries and tomato) were analysed. The samples were taken at the time of maturity directly from growing sites and they were analysed using segmented flow analysis. The average nitrate contents were the highest in lettuce (1,074 mg kg(-1)), cabbage (881 mg kg(-1)), string beans (298 mg kg(-1)) and carrot (264 mg kg(-1)), and they were moderately high in potato (158 mg kg(-1)), silage maize (122 mg kg(-1)), strawberries (94 mg kg(-1)), cucumbers (93 mg kg(-1)) and cereals (49 mg kg(-1)). Low nitrate contents (below 6 mg kg(-1)) were found in fruit (grapes, peaches, apples and pears) and tomato. With the exception of cereals (8.9 mg kg(-1)), apples (1.5 mg kg(-1)), potato (1.2 mg kg(-1)) and pears (1.0 mg kg(-1)) the content of nitrites did not exceed 0.5 mg kg(-1). It may be concluded that the results of the monitoring were in most cases similar to the results of investigations obtained in other countries.

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Although the list of pesticides used in integrated pest management (IPM) in grape growing and their annual application rates are limited, we are still confronted with the problem of pesticide residues in grapes. This paper presents the results of pesticide monitoring of 47 samples of wine grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) from the 2006 vintage from vineyards included in IPM. The grape samples were analysed for the presence of 67 pesticides. Among them 20 were allowed in IPM in 2006. Grapes were sampled at harvest. Two internal analytical methods were used for the determination of pesticides: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for the determination of dithiocarbamates and a multi-residue GC-MS method. One grape sample (2.1%) contained no residues or they were below the limit of detection, 28 samples (59.6%) contained residues lower or equal than maximum residue levels (MRLs), and 18 samples (38.3%) exceeded national MRLs for cyprodinil (the concentration range was 0.03-0.40 mg kg(-1) of cyprodinil) and fludioxonil (concentration was 0.03 mg kg(-1) of fludioxonil). Multiple residues were found in 41 samples (87.2%). The highest number of pesticides detected per sample was seven. No violation of pesticides allowed in IPM was observed. Folpet (97.9%), cyprodinil (51.1%), dithiocarbamates (44.7%), chlorothalonil (23.4%), chlorpyriphos (19.1%) and pyrimethanil (14.9%) were the most frequently found pesticides in grapes. Risk assessment showed that the exceeded concentrations of cyprodinil and fludioxonil did not represent any risk for consumer's health (the national estimate of short-term intake as a percentage of the acceptable daily intake was below 100%).

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