Oxidation of Pesticides on Fruit by Advanced Oxidative Process and Hazard Assessment of Pesticide Transformation Products

Recently, an advanced oxidative process (AOP) based system has been shown to be effective at reducing pathogens on produce. While similar processes have been studied in aqueous systems for pesticide degradation, there have been few studies of pesticide removal on the surface of produce by AOP and the hazard of transformation products that may be generated by such an exposure to humans has not yet been investigated. The removal of boscalid, pyraclostrobin, fenbuconazole and glyphosate due to exposure to hydrogen peroxide, UV-C and their combination as an AOP was investigated on apple and glass. UPLC-QTOF-MS was used to identify previously published transformation products. Toxicity of the transformation products was assessed in-silico by Toxtree and TEST. An initial tier hazard assessment was completed for whole produce, and apple consumption. AOP was determined to be effective for pesticide removal from apple but several transformation products should be considered for further toxicological analysis.