Pesticide residues in vegetable products and consumer’s risk in the agri-food value chain

The demand for food is increasing worldwide due to global population growth and the improvement of living standards. The use of pesticides in modern agriculture is necessary for most crops to guarantee the food supply. It has been estimated that the worldwide food production without the use of pesticides could decrease by as much as 35–40%, while the cost of food would increase. Vegetables and fruits are an important source of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. However, the improper and excessive use of pesticides in agriculture includes the increasing of health risks. Nevertheless, some products can be a source of pesticide residues and their ingestion represents a potential source of diseases and negative effects to human health. This chapter describes principles and methods for health risk assessment of pesticide residues in vegetable and fruits. The exposure assessment of pesticide residues is an essential method to quantify the chemical risks. In addition, the dietary exposure assessment, combine food consumption data with the pesticide concentrations on vegetable and fruits. The aim is to support the decision making process in the agri-food value chain to improve the food safety enforcement and reduce the impacts on human health. The assessment can be developed for the problem formulation and the interactions between risk assessor, risk manager, stakeholders and decision-makers. In addition, the assessment based on scientific evidences facilitates the decision-making process in order to determine the impacts of pesticide residues on human health and set up their maximum residue limits-MRLs.