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Study · Scientific reports · 2022Conflicts declared

Pesticide residues in Chinese apricots and dietary risk

Yang S, Xing Y, Liu Q, et al · Free full text

What it found

Four of 11 pesticides were found in apricot samples from China, and the authors calculated that the amounts eaten by different age and gender groups were below levels they considered acceptable.

What they found

Studies in people

Dietary risk estimate

The risk quotients for the four pesticides ranged from 0.003% to 1.184% across age and gender groups. The authors say values below 100% indicate acceptable risk.

Age and gender differences

Children aged 2–4 had the highest estimated dietary exposure, and women had slightly higher exposure than men. Exposure went down as age went up.

Highest risk pesticide

Bifenthrin had the highest risk quotient, followed by acetamiprid, fenpropathrin, and imidacloprid.

Other findings

Pesticides detected

Four pesticides were found in the apricots: acetamiprid, bifenthrin, fenpropathrin, and imidacloprid. All were below China's maximum residue limits.

Detection rate

Only 41 out of 210 samples contained any pesticide residue, a detection rate of 19.5%.

What the authors conclude

“Thus, the dietary intake of 11 pesticide residues does not pose a potential health risk to apricot consumers in China.”
Yang S, Xing Y, Liu Q, et al, 2022

Also in their conclusions

  • They conclude that the dietary intake of the 11 pesticide residues does not pose a potential health risk to apricot consumers in China.
  • They advise that regulatory departments should strengthen monitoring, supervision, and regulation of bifenthrin to prevent harmful dietary health events.
  • They note that their assessment did not include factors such as pesticide toxicity, residue limits, and dietary structure of residents in different economic regions, so final results may differ from the actual situation.

How it was done

Pesticides are often used on apricots, and residues could affect food safety. The authors wanted to measure how much of 11 common pesticides remained on apricots and what that meant for people who eat them.

They collected 210 apricot samples from seven provinces or cities in China in 2020 and tested them for 11 pesticides using a new lab method. They then combined the residue levels with average daily apricot intake and body weight for six groups of Chinese people (males and females aged 2–4, 18–30, and 60–70 years) to estimate dietary exposure.

What it can’t tell you

  • This study measured pesticide levels in apricots and estimated dietary exposure. It cannot show whether eating these apricots would cause any specific health effect.
  • The risk assessment used average daily intake and body weight for groups, not actual individual diets, so it cannot predict risk for any one person.
  • The authors did not include all possible factors like pesticide toxicity or regional dietary differences, so the risk estimates may not match real life exactly.

The paper

Title
Residual levels and dietary intake risk assessment of 11 pesticides in apricots from different ecological planting regions in China
Type
Study
Evidence
Studies in people
Summarised from
Full text
Licence
CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
Cite
Yang S, Xing Y, Liu Q, et al (2022). Residual levels and dietary intake risk assessment of 11 pesticides in apricots from different ecological planting regions in China. Scientific reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-23564-4Free full textPubMed 36335168DOI

Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error