Food safety is a global challenge with chemical residues in foods causing harm to consumers. In particular, pesticide residues in food value chains is one of the leading causes of toxicities and a major cause of human diseases globally. According to FAO (2021), pesticide use increased by 36% during the period of 2000- 2019 worldwide. Globally, the trend in pesticide use has continued to upsurge gradually to 4.1 million tonnes per year in 2017, an increase of nearly 81% since 1990. The most toxic pesticides to human health and therefore of food safety concern globally are the Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HPPs). The extensive and increasing trend in use of synthetic pesticides pose risks to human health, the environment, and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who are the majority of actors in agriculture. Further, the legal infrastructure and mechanisms set up for regulating pesticides do not have the full capacity required to monitor and enforce regulations that can assure the safety of consumers from the accumulation of different pesticides over time. The toxicities have also been reported to affect animals such as bees, birds, and aquatic life. In addition, the environmental and consumer toxicological exposures are not well documented due to limited risk assessment studies. Consequently, chemical residues present in most foods have been reported to exceed maximum residue levels acceptable for human consumption. There a number of regulatory agencies with mandates to control and monitor pesticide use in most countries. However, the roles of these agencies have not adequately addressed the impact of pesticides and fundamental disruptions in ecology through the legal mechanisms such as testing of every pesticide’s safety and prohibiting use of unsafe pesticides among other preventive measure leading to toxicities among consumers. Therefore, there is a need for alternatives in agroecological and integrated pest management approaches and active regulatory controls for monitoring the use of pesticides towards food safety.
Dating back to the 1990s, it has been documented that pesticides have been identified as a cause for significant human poisoning and a principal concern for public health. It was a this time that a task force of the world health organization (WHO) estimated that around one million unintentional pesticides poisonings with severe manifestations occur annually, leading to approximately 20,000 deaths. Despite this, there is limited data that estimates pesticide toxicity i.e. accidental or occupational poisoning with existing information failing to differentiate between intentional and unintentional poisonings, or between pesticide and other chemical toxicities.. Therefore, this research topic is looking to bring together scientific findings on the current status and data on pesticides use, commonly detected pesticides, food safety concerns, EU regulations, regulations and standards, role regulatory agencies, challenges in regulation of pesticide products and current interventions and actions to address pesticide issues.
Therefore, this research topic is aimed at bringing together scientific findings and facts on the status and data on pesticides use; commonly detected pesticides in foods; food safety concerns with regard to chemical residues; EU regulations, regulations and standards, and role regulatory agencies; challenges in regulation of pesticide products; and current interventions and actions to address pesticide issues.
We welcome original research articles with findings on pesticide or active ingredients in foods or its subgroups (e.g. insecticide, fungicides, herbicides) will be selected for publication. Related manuscripts on:
food safety, toxicites, human poisoning or health effects by surveys will also be considered in the review. In addition, we welcome manuscripts with data on the following themes, but not limited to:
- Current pesticide dietary risk assessment and chronic and short-termed exposure durations
- Public health impact of pesticides used in agriculture
- Farmer/producers’ practices in pesticide use
- Pre-harvest harvest interval and pesticide contamination
- Pesticide use standards and regulations
- Health risk assessments
- Exposure and health impacts on horticultural farmers and consumers
Keywords:
Food Safety, Pesticides, Harmful ingredients, Active Ingredients, Toxicity, Consumer Risk, Regulations
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
Food safety is a global challenge with chemical residues in foods causing harm to consumers. In particular, pesticide residues in food value chains is one of the leading causes of toxicities and a major cause of human diseases globally. According to FAO (2021), pesticide use increased by 36% during the period of 2000- 2019 worldwide. Globally, the trend in pesticide use has continued to upsurge gradually to 4.1 million tonnes per year in 2017, an increase of nearly 81% since 1990. The most toxic pesticides to human health and therefore of food safety concern globally are the Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HPPs). The extensive and increasing trend in use of synthetic pesticides pose risks to human health, the environment, and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who are the majority of actors in agriculture. Further, the legal infrastructure and mechanisms set up for regulating pesticides do not have the full capacity required to monitor and enforce regulations that can assure the safety of consumers from the accumulation of different pesticides over time. The toxicities have also been reported to affect animals such as bees, birds, and aquatic life. In addition, the environmental and consumer toxicological exposures are not well documented due to limited risk assessment studies. Consequently, chemical residues present in most foods have been reported to exceed maximum residue levels acceptable for human consumption. There a number of regulatory agencies with mandates to control and monitor pesticide use in most countries. However, the roles of these agencies have not adequately addressed the impact of pesticides and fundamental disruptions in ecology through the legal mechanisms such as testing of every pesticide’s safety and prohibiting use of unsafe pesticides among other preventive measure leading to toxicities among consumers. Therefore, there is a need for alternatives in agroecological and integrated pest management approaches and active regulatory controls for monitoring the use of pesticides towards food safety.
Dating back to the 1990s, it has been documented that pesticides have been identified as a cause for significant human poisoning and a principal concern for public health. It was a this time that a task force of the world health organization (WHO) estimated that around one million unintentional pesticides poisonings with severe manifestations occur annually, leading to approximately 20,000 deaths. Despite this, there is limited data that estimates pesticide toxicity i.e. accidental or occupational poisoning with existing information failing to differentiate between intentional and unintentional poisonings, or between pesticide and other chemical toxicities.. Therefore, this research topic is looking to bring together scientific findings on the current status and data on pesticides use, commonly detected pesticides, food safety concerns, EU regulations, regulations and standards, role regulatory agencies, challenges in regulation of pesticide products and current interventions and actions to address pesticide issues.
Therefore, this research topic is aimed at bringing together scientific findings and facts on the status and data on pesticides use; commonly detected pesticides in foods; food safety concerns with regard to chemical residues; EU regulations, regulations and standards, and role regulatory agencies; challenges in regulation of pesticide products; and current interventions and actions to address pesticide issues.
We welcome original research articles with findings on pesticide or active ingredients in foods or its subgroups (e.g. insecticide, fungicides, herbicides) will be selected for publication. Related manuscripts on:
food safety, toxicites, human poisoning or health effects by surveys will also be considered in the review. In addition, we welcome manuscripts with data on the following themes, but not limited to:
- Current pesticide dietary risk assessment and chronic and short-termed exposure durations
- Public health impact of pesticides used in agriculture
- Farmer/producers’ practices in pesticide use
- Pre-harvest harvest interval and pesticide contamination
- Pesticide use standards and regulations
- Health risk assessments
- Exposure and health impacts on horticultural farmers and consumers
Keywords:
Food Safety, Pesticides, Harmful ingredients, Active Ingredients, Toxicity, Consumer Risk, Regulations
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.