Pesticide residues in strawberries sampled from the market of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the period between 2002 and 2005

Within the framework of food surveillance a total number of 593 conventionally grown strawberry samples mainly originating from Germany, Spain, Italy and Morocco were analysed for pesticide residues at the Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart between 2002 and 2005 using the QuEChERS multiresidue method. Pesticide residues were detected in 98 % of the samples and 93 % of all strawberry samples were found to contain multiple pesticide residues. The German or EU-harmonised MRLs were exceeded by 54 strawberry samples (9 %) with mepanipyrim being the most frequently violative compound. The average total concentration of pesticides per sample was 0.41 mg/kg which is similar to the average value for fruits in general, with Italian products containing the highest and the German ones the lowest residue concentrations. A general trend observed was the decline of the total pesticide residue concentration as the harvest season is progressing. For more efficient analysis, the spectrum of pesticides to be targeted in instrumental analysis was regularly being adjusted to include compounds that are relevant for strawberry samples. The information was extracted from the internet database Pesticides-Online. In total, 105 different pesticide compounds were identified with 65 % of the positive residue findings being <0.05 mg/kg and 96 % of them being <0.5 mg/kg. Fungicides were much more often detected than insecticides and herbicides with cyprodinil, fludioxonil, fenhexamid, tolylfluanid and azoxystrobin being the most frequently detected compounds together accounting for 50 % of the total detections. A toxicological risk assessment with the emphasis on multiple residues was performed using the results obtained for the strawberry samples. © Birkhäuser Verlag, 2006.