Monitoring of pesticide residues in South Indian tea

Abstract

Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world. Tea infusion is prepared by pouring boiling hot water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Such a beverage should be free from toxic chemicals. Studies on the monitoring of pesticide residues in tea of South India had been carried. Tea samples collected from different districts of South India were analysed for the residues of certain pesticide such as dicofol, ethion, quinalphos, hexaconazole, fenpropathrin, fenvalerate and propargite. These pesticides are commonly used for the control of pests and diseases in tea. The results of study indicated that among 468 samples examined, only one sample contained hexaconazole residue that exceeded the maximum residue limit (MRL). Though the residues of ethion, quinalphos, hexaconazole, dicofol, propargite and fenpropathrin were most commonly found, only one sample exceeded the MRL.

Tracking residual organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in green, herbal, and black tea leaves and infusions of commercially available tea products marketed in Poland

“…Tea brew could be a possible source of contamination for humans. Actual exposure depends on the quantity of the residues leached into the tea brew and not the mere presence of residues in the tea (Kottiappan et al 2013). The data obtained are in agreement with those reported by Cho et al (2014) who found that the slightly less water soluble pesticides (0.001-0.019 mg L -1 ) with very high Log K ow factors did not infuse into tea brew from prepared tea.…”

Monitoring and risk assessment due to presence of heavy metals and pesticides in tea samples

“…This study proved that out of 468 samples surveyed, only one sample exceeded the MRL value fixed for hexaconazole residue in tea. This suggests that application of pesticides for good crop production is important but at the same times its important to monitor the dosage of their application which in this case is prominent because out of so many samples only in one sample there was problem (Kottiappan et al, 2013). Also there is a need to focus on good quality crop production at the first place rather than putting extra efforts later on that is application of more and more pesticides later on.…”

Nutritional Minerals and Heavy Metals in Tea Infusions and Daily Intake of Human Body

“…As a popular beverage, the top three tea consuming countries are Turkey, Ireland and UK (Das et al, 2017). Tea infusion is prepared by pouring boiling hot water over cured leaves of tea plant (Kottiappan et al, 2013). During tea infusion, both essential mineral elements and toxic metals are extracted into the beverage.…”