Organochlorine pesticide residues in poultry feed, chicken muscle and eggs at a poultry farm in Punjab, India

Abstract

Animals intended for human food may absorb pesticides from residues in their feed, water or during direct/indirect exposure in the course of pest control. The objective of the present investigation was to monitor organochlorine pesticide residues in poultry feed, chicken muscle and eggs at a selected poultry farm. The samples were Soxhlet extracted for 8 h in 200 mL hexane-acetone (1:1, v/v) mixture. The clean-up of the samples was performed by silica gel column chromatography and analysis was done on a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector. The mean total hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), endosulfan sulfate and heptachlor epoxide residues were 0.65, 0.91, 0.42 and 0.02 mg kg −1 , respectively, in feed while respective values for chicken muscle were 0.11, 0.24, 0.10 and 0.07 mg kg −1 . Higher residues were encountered in eggs as compared to muscle. None of the muscle samples exceeded maximum residue limits (MRL) for organochlorine pesticides, while all egg samples had values above the MRL for HCH and heptachlor epoxide and seven egg samples exceeded MRL for DDT residues. The results indicated that poultry feed could be one of the major sources of contamination for chicken and eggs. These residues are present despite complete ban on the use of technical HCH and DDT for agricultural purposes in India.

DDT contamination from indoor residual spraying for malaria control

“…These animals have free range on the property including access to the DDT exposed floors inside the sprayed homesteads. DDT has been shown to accumulate in a number of chicken tissues including fat (Vazquez-Moreno et al, 1999), muscle (Aulakh et al, 2005) and liver (Tao et al, 2009). …”

Organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticide residues in fodder and milk samples along Musi river belt, India

“…A residue level of 0.007 ppm and 0.045 ppm was reported by Panseri [12] and Deka [13] in fodder samples, which is far below the specified MRL value by EU (CE: 698: 2005) is 0.1 ppm, whereas higher levels (0.42 ppm) was reported by Aulakh [14] for endosulphan sulfate. Residual concentration of 0.001 ppm and 0.02 ppm were reported by Panseri [12] and Aulakh [14] respectively in the fodder samples, which are far below the MRL value (0.01 ppm) specified by EU (CE:398: 2005) in fodder for heptachlor. Fagnani et al [15] reported the residual concentration of dimethoate in fodder sample as 0.01 μgl −1 .…”

Determination of multiple organochlorine pesticide residues in shrimp using modified QuEChERS extraction and gas chromatography

“…In the long past organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) like endrin were used in rice while other OCPs were used legally in other crops until 1977 when the last OC insecticide heptachlor was banned. The OCPs are lipophilic in nature, their hydrophobicity, low chemical and biological degradation rates have led to their widespread accumulation in food chain (John et al, 2001;Bedi et al, 2005;Aulakh et al, 2006). The exposure of OCPs in humans creates severe health hazards particularly breast cancer, testicular cancer, endocrine dysfunction, births defects, lower sperm count (Brody and Rudel, 2003;Ahmed et al, 1996;Garry et al, 2004;Soto et al, 1998).…”