Impact of Washing and Fermentation On The Concentration of Pesticide Residues in Nigerian Staple Foods
Impact of Washing and Fermentation On The Concentration of Pesticide Residues in Nigerian Staple Foods
Impact of Washing and Fermentation On The Concentration of Pesticide Residues in Nigerian Staple Foods
*2Apeh, D. O. 3
Apeh, K. A.
2 3
Department of Biochemistry, Department of Microbiology,
Confluence University of Science and Technology, Confluence University of Science and Technology,
Osara, Nigeria Osara, Nigeria
B. Study Design
Samples were screened for the presence of pesticide
residues. After obtaining the GC-MS/MS result and
establishing samples that were contaminated, selected
contaminated samples were processed to determine the effect
of processing on level of residual pesticides. The processing
steps are described below: fermentation/soaking for three and
five days (cassava, maize), soaking in cold water for 5
minutes and washing off the water (beans, rice), allowing to
boil in hot water for 5 minutes and washing off the water
(beans, rice) and sun drying (cassava, maize). After
processing, samples were subjected to extraction and
quantification of pesticide residues, to determine the effect of Fig 1: Optional Processing Steps Applied to Staples
processing on the levels of residual pesticides. Following a-Maize, b-Cassava, c-Rice and d-Beans
processing, a total of 26 samples were analysed for residual
pesticides. C. Extraction and Quantification of Pesticide Residues
The Quick, Effective, Cheap, Easy, Rugged and Safe
(QuEChERS) method was employed to extract the residual
pesticides from the food samples. This involved a single
extraction in acetonitrile with the addition of salt and buffers
to aid the extraction of both non-polar and polar compounds.
Gas chromatography was use to determine pesticides. The
extract (2 µl) was injected into a TQ8040 Gas
chromatography tandem Mass spectrometry equipped with;
SH-RXi-55il MS-type fused silica capillary column (30m,
0.25mm id & film thickness 0.25µm), helium gas, flow
control mode: linear velocity, one minute sampling time, 200
o
C ion source temperature, 250oC interface temperature, CID
gas: Argon gas. The pesticide residues assayed for were
organochlorides; α- chlordane, Dieldrin, P, P’- DDE, and
Methoxychlor.
D. Data Analysis Several other studies have established the important role
Data obtained from the GC-MS/MS analyses were of washing in removal of pesticide residues from various food
analyzed using Ms Excel 2013. Thereafter, figures and tables matrices. Ryad and Mahmoud (2016) reported that washing
were used to present the results. of olives in cold water for 5 minutes removed 48% of
cypermethrin, 26%-36% of chlorpyrifos, 67% of diazinon,
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 66% of profenfos, and 26%-39% of L-cyhalothrin. Lentza-
Rizos et al. (2006) also reported that the residues of
A. Effect of Processing on Pesticide Residues in Food azoxystrobin on grapes were reduced by 75%.
Samples
Figure 2 to 14 show the effect of various optional food During rice cooking, Medina et al. (2021) in their study
processing steps on the concentration of four (4) pesticides concluded that pre-soaking rice with extra water before
residues while Table 1 show the percentage reduction in the cooking proved to be the method that generates the greatest
concentration of the pesticide residues due to the reduction in pesticide level, the authors thought that soaking
corresponding treatments. The result shows that washing of probably contributes to increasing grain water absorption
rice after soaking for five minutes in cold water is able to capacity, achieving a greater effect of destroying pesticides
reduce the concentration of pp’-DDE by 28.4%, during cooking. Blanching (washing) of beans in warm water
methoxychlor by 44.4-86.2% and α-chlordane by 94.7%. has shown effectiveness in reduction of DDT in beans by
Allowing rice to boil for five minutes before washing off the 50%, while washing removed 20% of DDT from potato
water was able to reduce the concentration of methoxychlor (Holland et al., 1994). Soaking of beans resulted in 9.88%
by 55.5-97.1% and α-chlordane by 95.5% but makes pp’- reduction while boiling resulted in 48.15% reduction in the
DDE more available (-149%). It further revealed that concentration of pirimiphos-methyl (Aondona et al., 2019).
fermentation of cassava for 3 or 5 days has minimal effect on Thus, supporting the effect of both cold and hot water
the reduction of levels of pesticide residues; its effect on washing treatment of beans found in this study, and
methoxychlor was its reduction by -5.3-26.3% and 13.6- suggesting that warm/hot water treatment of beans is more
28.1% respectively. This may be due to slow water removal effective than cold water washing in removal of pesticide
from cassava unlike the other staples where the water used residues.
for washing can be discarded almost completely.
Fig 6: Effect of Processing on Level of Fig 9: Effect of Processing on level of pp'-DDE in Beans
Methoxychlor in Cassava
Fig 10: Effect of Processing on Level of pp'-DDE in Rice Fig 13: Effect of Processing on Level of
α-Chlordane in Maize
Fig 11: Effect of Processing on Level of Fig 14: Effect of Processing on Level of
α-Chlordane in Rice Dieldrin in Beans
Fermentation has been identified as a processing eliminating methoxychlor (98.4%) and dieldrin (100%). With
method that possess high potential for reduction of pesticide this finding, the populace is encouraged to adopt the optional
residues in food. One highly effective and promising method processing steps on food where and when applicable, as they
involves fermenting foods using natural microflora or have been seen to have residue minimization and elimination
intentionally introducing probiotic strains. Detoxification effects.
processes may entail enzymatic hydrolysis or oxidation of
pesticides, breaking them down into less harmful substances ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
(Armenova et al., 2023). In this study, fermentation was
effective in reducing methoxychlor (35.5-79.5%) and α- This work was funded by the Nigerian Tertiary
chlordane (100%). In a study by Zhang et al. (2016), Education Trust Fund (TETFund) through the Institutional
application of strains of the bacteria Lactiplantibacillus Based Research Grant (IBR) intervention disbursed at Prince
plantarum at room temperature for 10 weeks reduced phorate Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Nigeria.
levels in corn silage by 24.9 - 33.4%. Đorđević et al. (2013)
also reported 81% degradation of pirimiphos/pirimiphos- REFERENCES
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APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2