Monitoring of pesticide residues in apples, lettuce and potato of the Slovene origin, 2001-04.

Apples, lettuce and potatoes (404 samples) produced in the Republic of Slovenia were analysed for pesticide residues at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Ljubljana, in 2001-04. Sampling from eight agricultural production areas was performed at market producers at the harvesting of products or in storehouses after the pre-harvest interval of plant protection products used. Samples exceeding the maximum residue levels were the following: three apple samples (2.0%) containing 0.33-2.24 mg kg(-1) (phosalone and tolylfluanid), three lettuce samples (3.1%) containing 0.14-6.36 mg kg(-1) (dimethoate, dithiocarbamates and metalaxyl) and 36 potato samples (23.1%) containing 0.06-0.51 mg kg(-1) (dithiocarbamates). Residues of two or more active substances were found in 73 apple samples (48.3%), of which the maximum residue limit (MRL) was exceeded by three samples (2.0%) with the values ranging from 0.33 to 2.24 mg kg(-1), and nine lettuce samples (9.3%), for which the MRL was exceeded by three samples (3.1%) with values from 0.14 to 6.36 mg kg(-1). In potato samples, only residues of dithiocarbamates or no residues at all were found. Residues of the dithiocarbamate group were the most frequently found, i.e. in 66 apple samples (43.7%), 30 lettuce samples (30.9%) and 38 potato samples (24.4%).