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Pesticide residues in food are intentional pollutants such as insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, miticides, and plant activators. The insecticides diazinon and malathion are classified as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization, and the fungicides chlorothalonil and hexachlorobenzene are classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). In this study, gas chromatography and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analyses were used to identify the concentrations of pesticide residues in agricultural products and to assess the effects of chronic human exposure to pesticide residues via agricultural consumption. Food consumption data were obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016–2018. Chronic exposures using mean consumption data for the whole population, with mean concentration of pesticide residues, were 5.15E-11 ~ 2.08E-05 (LB) and 2.41E-07 ~ 4.69E-05 mg/kg bw/day (UB), corresponding to 0.00012 ~ 2.16% of hazard index (HA). Exposures to pesticide residues using the 95th percentile of the consumption data were 0 ~ 8.76E-05 (LB) and 9.26E-07 ~ 1.56E-04 mg/kg bw/day (UB), corresponding to 0.00045 ~ 9.41% of HA.

Pesticide residues in food comprise compounds such as insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, miticides, and plant activators. The insecticides diazinon (O, O-diethyl O-2-isopropyl-6-methylpyrimidin-4-yl phosphorothioate) and malathion (O, O-dimethyl dithiophosphate of diethyl-mercaptosuccinate) are classified as probably carcinogenic (Group 2A) and the fungicides chlorothalonil (2,4,5,6-tetrachloro-1,3-benzenedicarbonitrile) and hexachlorobenzene (pentachlophenyl chloride) as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization. In this study, gas chromatographic and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric analyses were used to determine the concentrations of pesticide residues in agricultural products and assess the effects of chronic human exposure to pesticide residues through the consumption of agricultural products during 2018-2020. Food consumption data were obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2016-2018. The chronic exposures determined using mean consumption data for the whole population and mean concentrations of the pesticide residues were 5.15E-11 to 2.08E-05 [lower bound (LB)] and 2.41E-07 to 4.69E-05 mg/kg bw/day [upper bound (UB)], corresponding to 0.00012-2.16% of the hazard index (HA). Exposures to pesticide residues, calculated using the 95th percentile of the consumption data, were 0-8.76E-05 (LB) and 9.26E-07 to 1.56E-04 mg/kg bw/day (UB), corresponding to 0.00045-9.41% of the HA. Based on the result of current exposure assessment, it could be considered that the pesticide residues in agricultural products are properly controlled by the regulatory authorities.