Analysis of pesticide residue in vegetables collected from nine different regions of Bangladesh using Gas Chromatography

The study was conducted to analyze the amount of residue of six commonly used pesticides (e.g. chlorpyriphos, quinalphos, diazinon, acephate, dimethoate and fenitrothion) in vegetables viz., hyacinth bean and eggplant samples collected from local market of nine different locations viz. Cumilla, Bogura, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khagrachari, Cox’s bazaar, Barishal, Jamalpur and Dhaka for the comparison between the detected residue level with maximum residue limit (MRL) set by European Union. Among 36 analyzed samples of hyacinth bean six samples (16.67%) were contaminated with chlorpyriphos (0.082 mg/kg) and dimethoate residue (0.192 mg/kg - 0.961 mg/kg), all of them were above maximum residue limit. Out of 36 analyzed samples of eggplant 3 samples (8.33%) were contaminated with quinalphos (0.081mg/kg) and dimethoate residue (0.032 mg/kg - 0.217 mg/kg) which were above MRL. Most of the samples contained with dimethoate residue in both the vegetables. The presence of pesticide residue exceeding MRL in vegetables is harmful to human and other living organisms. Analyzed samples of Cumilla, Bogura, Rangpur and Rajshahi showed pesticide residue (i.e. dimethoate, chlorpyriphos and quinalphos) over MRL but the samples of other five locations like Cox’s bazar, Khagrachari, Barishal, Jamalpur and Dhaka did not show any detectable residue which might safe for consumption.