The Impact of Pesticides - Academy Publish

Analytical methods to assess the impact of pesticides onhuman from coffeesClaudia M. D. Paes, Helena L. Capobiangoand Zenilda L.CardealAbstractFood production quality has shown increasing in recent decades and this increase inproductivity leads to the need for greater control of unwanted species of plants oranimals that cause damage or interfere with the production, storage, transport ormarketing. Considering this, and from the perspective of food security and on theincreasing number of pesticides is a pressing need to establish methodologies able toinvestigate the presence of pesticide residues. Thus, the development of analyticalmethodologies that provide reliable results in the analysis of this residues takesleading role to ensure quality and food safety. Given the large number of existingpesticides and their use in various products, analytical methods must: consider thedifferent characteristics of matrices and analytes; be able to unambiguously detectand quantify low levels in the largest possible number of analytes; involved,preferably a small number of steps to provide better reproducibility and accuracyand time savings. Regarding the validation of methods for analysis of pesticideresidues, there are guidelines that provide guidance on how the work should beconducted. The European Commission, through the Directorate General Health andConsumer Protection (DG SANCO/10684/2009), prepares recommendations forsuch quality control and validation of analytical methods for analysis of pesticideresidues. It is also available to the Codex Alimentarius guidelines, good laboratorypractice in the analysis of waste, which addresses the parameters to be evaluated inthe validation of the method. It has been a tendency among the referencelaboratories in this area, the adoption of these recommendations in their validationwork.INTRODUCTIONCoffee plant belongs to the Rubiaceae family and has more than seventy species.Among these species, two are of significant economic importance, known as thearabic (Coffeaarabica) and robusta species (Coffeacanephora). The coffee beverageis produced from the roasted beans of the coffee fruit. It is one of the most popularbeverages in the world due to its specific flavor and aroma. This product is aneconomically important tropical agricultural commodity having a significantfraction exported to many countries. It is marketed globally and at times was thesecond most traded product in the world, second only to oil (Chanakya and DeAlwis 2004). Table 1 shows the major world exporters of arabica and robustacoffee (www.ico.org 2011).Coffee contains many beneficial antioxidants and is one of the richest sources ofchlorogenic acid (Yang, Wang et al. 2011). Epidemiological studies have associatedthe consumption of this acid to prevention of diseases such as diabetes mellitus,cardiovascular disease and other diseases related to oxidative stress(Garambone2007).The coffee culture, due to its long permanence in the field, is subject to differentenvironmental conditions which make it susceptible to the occurrence of many pestsAcademyPublish.org - The Impact of Pesticides380