Pesticide Residues On Our Plate: Lets Take Care Of It

Yengkhom Bijen Kumar *

A floating dead fish on Loktak lake and inset a can of pesticide found nearby in March 2012 :: Pix - Loktak Development Authority (LDA)

Where does the pesticide go after its application for controlling the insect pest and diseases that causes damages to our crops? As a fact, immediately after application some portion are absorb by the plants and the remaining gets distributed to different section of the environment such as atmosphere, water, soil etc.

Here, depending on their persistence they remain in food and environment for varying amount of period. Some of them, which are low in persistence, get degraded totally after few hours/days of application and the one with higher persistency remains for many days or even years. There is much awareness about the harmful effect of pesticides on our health and environment.

Yes, pesticides are harmful and they are designed as such so as to kill/control living organisms. However, the dose requiring for killing the pests infecting our crops are much lower than that can impose any harm to mammals including human. As a matter of concern, farmers in desperation to killed and get effective results goes on applying pesticides in excess leading to deposition of pesticide residues on our food. The faster we put those foods on our plates, the higher will be the amount of pesticides we consumed.

Fruits and vegetables constitute an important part of our diets. Insect pest and diseases are one of the major constraints hampering the production of fruits and vegetables. Several novel technologies have been developed in the field of crop protection for sustainable management of pest and diseases in vegetables. Application of pesticides is one of the technologies widely accepted because of its quick and effective means of pest controlling.

The misuse and overuse of pesticides due to lack of awareness and information has led to the contamination of food and environment. Pesticide residue as a contaminant is of serious concern and need special attention as it affect not only the health and environment but trade also.

Nowadays, it is frequently heard about farmers using pesticides only on those crops meant for selling, and growing separate crops for household consumption. Here, the farmer deliberately applied large quantity of pesticides to get good crop and yield. But, in actual situation the pesticides gets disperse and contaminate the surrounding field also. Consequently the crops on which the pesticides were not applied also get, most probably, contaminated with these pesticides.

So, it is better not to applied excess amount of pesticides against the recommended one. Some of the main reasons for the occurrence of pesticide residue in our food are due to lack of awareness (inadequate training, lack of appropriate and timely information about the proper use and management of pesticides, poor guidance about the safe use and handling, lack of standard safety practice, etc.); improper use of pesticides (wrong mix of different types of pesticides, use of pesticides for unintended purposes, use of pesticides containers for domestic uses); weak enforcement(absence or late issuance of regulations and guidelines, inadequate implementation of the issued regulations, weak monitoring or a follow-up activities, lack of well-defined incentive or punitive structure, etc.). These factors are contributing to the negative impact of use of pesticides.

However, we can avoid pesticide residue in foods and its harmful effects by following proper instruction, rules and regulation of pesticide application. So, it is necessary to make aware of proper techniques and methods of pesticide application and to manage the residue starting from the field itself. The following are some of the practices that can be done to minimize/avoid the presence of pesticide residues in our food.

Measures to minimize pesticide hazards/levels in environment and food
a) First and foremost need is to acquire more knowledge for pesticide residues/safety and convert it into understanding
b) Systematic evaluations on persistence and residue levels on our food items
c) Strictly following the recommended pre-harvest intervals/waiting period i.e., maintaining the gap between pesticide application and harvesting day in which the pesticides applied will get reduced to unharmed level.
d) Stringent enforcement of regulatory aspects and imposition of heavy penalty for violations.
e) Development of education and health based packages and practices and their dissemination amongst users, consumers and manufacturers for safe and judicious uses of pesticides.

Tips to reduce pesticide residues on the food we eat:

a) First, eat a variety of fruits and vegetables to minimize the potential of increased exposure to a single pesticide. This will avoid the bioaccumulation of the exposed pesticide and hence minimizing the
b) Thoroughly wash all produce, even that which is claimed to be grown fully organic and that which you plan to peel.
c) It is better we wash our food produce under running water rather than soaking or dunking it. This will prevent the movement of pesticide inside food item.
d) You can dry produce with a clean cloth towel or paper towel when possible.
e) Scrub firm fruits and vegetables, like melons and root vegetables.
f) Discard the outer layer of leafy vegetables, such as lettuce or cabbage.
g) Peel fruits and vegetables when possible.
h) Trim fat and skin from meat, poultry, and fish to minimize pesticide residue that may accumulate in the fat.

We are not sufficiently producing all food items in our state, Manipur. Because of this, there is requirement of importing food produce from other states. The main concern here is the chemical pesticides that had been used to increase the self-life of the produce that many people in our state are not aware of. India doesn't have strict regulatory enforcement on controlling pesticide residue in our food.

As a result of which many trade food consignment exported to other country gets rejected due to presence of pesticide residue. Other country has strict provision for such things but, we do not. So, it is always better we follow the rules and recommendation which will consequently provide us safe and clean food. The consumer awareness is growing with respect to the right to have safe and clean food. No one in the society is ready to tolerate the pesticide residues in the food intended for his/her nurture.

On the other hand, being in tropical and sub-tropical belt we cannot afford to avoid the use of the agrochemicals in pest management. It is the dose and time of application, which differentiates the safe and unsafe use. If the recommendations of the good agricultural practices and pre-harvest intervals are sincerely followed, it is definitely possible to minimize the residue load of agrochemicals in food items at field level, which in turn, will ensure safety to the health of the consumers and ecosystem / environment as a whole.