Health Risks for Intake of Red Chili With Carbofuran Pesticide Less Likely

Carbofuran residue ingestion through red chili does not have any recognizable health risks. The acute reference dose (ARfD) for carbofuran intake, a limit value for quantifying risk assessment about short-term intake is done. No detrimental effect is shown in children or adults.

Carbofuran is a plant protection product which can be used against certain insects, mites, ticks and nematodes. On the basis of the amount of the carbofuran residues and estimated dietary intake of red chilies, an exceedance of the acute reference dose (ARfD) is not to be expected for children or adults. The ARfD describes the quantity of a substance per kilogram of body weight that consumers can ingest with their food in one meal or in several meals spread over one day without any recognisable effect on health. The ARfD is therefore a limit value for risk assessment in relation to short-term intake.

‘Intake of carbofuran, a plant protection product, found in red chili is less likely to have any recognizable health risks. The quantification of the amount ingested shows no risks for children or adults.’

Other plant protection products were also detected in the 10 samples from the manufacturer (2308 grams in total), but their contribution is negligible in relation to carbofuran so that no health risk is to be expected from them either. As the number of samples is small, the results cannot be generalised for red chili.



Source: Eurekalert