Safety status of plant food in the WANA region: Problems and recommendations

Contamination of horticultural crop samples by organic chemicals has become a pressing problem in many countries in WANA Region. This paper reviews the current safety status of plant food in terms of pesticide contamination and correlate it with the associated health risk. Safety status was assessed by comparing the determined contamination level of pesticide with that of world health organization (WHO) maximum residue limits (MRL). A range of low contamination levels were detected in cucumber and tomato in Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. Contamination free grape samples was found in Egypt. A variety of contamination levels were detected in honey samples in Lebanon. Elevated levels of contamination were detected in vegetables from Pakistan and in tomato, cucumber and grapes in Israel. Several poisonous cases and plant food contamination were reported in Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Jordan, UAE, Pakistan, and Yemen in the past years. Further detailed studies of these problem showed accumulation of these organic contaminants in food consumer bodies and farm workers who deal directly with agricultural products. This problem occurred probably due misuse and/or overuse of pesticides in the environment. Identification of the contaminants classified them as moderately to highly toxic compounds which at any rate has an adverse safety deterioration. However, the results suggest that countries included in the study would implement control measures to reduce pesticide use, and awareness programs to increase food safety for human consumption and a reduction of contamination.