To Examine Potential Health Risks Associated with Agrochemical Residues in Dairy Products
Keywords:
Agrochemical residues; dairy products; pesticide contamination; health risk assessment; milk safety; GC-MS; estimated daily intake; hazard quotient.Abstract
The widespread and often indiscriminate use of agrochemicals in fodder and forage cultivation has raised growing concern over the safety of milk and milk-derived products, which occupy a central place in the Indian diet. This study was undertaken to examine the occurrence, distribution and potential human health risks associated with agrochemical residues — namely organochlorine, organophosphate, pyrethroid and carbamate pesticides — in raw milk, pasteurized milk, butter, cheese and ghee collected from dairy farms and retail outlets in the Meerut region of Uttar Pradesh, India. A total of sixty (n = 60) samples, twelve from each product category, were analyzed using QuEChERS-based extraction followed by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). Residues were detected in 78.3% of samples, with organochlorines constituting the largest proportion (38.4%) of positive detections, followed by organophosphates (27.1%), pyrethroids (18.6%) and carbamates (9.8%). Fat-rich products such as ghee and butter exhibited significantly higher mean residue concentrations than raw or pasteurized milk, consistent with the lipophilic character of organochlorine compounds. Health risk assessment using Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) and Hazard Quotient (HQ) indicated that although mean residue levels for most samples remained below the reference Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) of 0.05 mg/kg, cumulative Hazard Index values for children approached levels warranting precaution. The findings underline the need for continuous residue surveillance, stricter enforcement of Good Agricultural Practices, and farmer awareness programs to safeguard dairy product safety and public health.
How to cite this article:
Choudhary P, Prakash D. To Examine Potential
Health Risks Associated with Agrochemical
Residues in Dairy Products. J Adv Res Food Sci
Nutr 2026; 9(2): 1-7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2582.3892.202602
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R. K. Yadav et al., "Health risk assessment of organophosphate pesticide residues in dairy products," J. Food Sci. Technol., vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 950–958, 2018.
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