Summary
Pesticides might cause health problems and must be thoroughly controlled in food. The aim of this study was to determine, on dry basis, the dissipation of active material in sixteen pesticides for wheat production (eleven fungicides; two herbicides; three insecticides) after heating in water, flat dough (crackers) and leavened dough (pan bread); the effect of dough alkalinity was also checked. Compared to water, dough protected pesticides from heat. Malathion, an insecticide, was easily dissipated by heat but most pesticides, especially fungicides, were very stable to dough fermentation and bread baking. With a few exceptions, similar trends were seen in neutral and alkaline crackers. We conclude that it is unlikely that baking would dissipate much pesticides residues, especially fungicides, in flat and leavened dough for crackers and pan bread.