Dietary exposure of Thais to pesticides during 1989-1996

To monitor the exposure of the Thai to pesticide residues in foods, the intake of pesticides based on the total diet approach has been studied in Thailand continually since 1989. Food items were chosen and their proportions of daily consumption were calculated from the national food consumption survey conducted by the Department of Health in 1986. Seventy-seven items of food including drinking water were classified into 12 groups according to their sources of contamination and the analytical methods used. Shopping lists and standard procedures for collecting samples and cooking were developed. Twelve food composites from each of the 4 regions were analyzed for nearly 100 pesticides. All analyses used multiresidue analytical methods, and the total daily dietary intakes of pesticide residues were estimated from the average amount of food consumed by Thais. Among 24 pesticides found in the 8 year study, DDT, dimethoate, methamidophos, and parathion methyl were found every year. However, dietary intakes of all pesticides were far below the established acceptable daily intake. In 1999, the study methodology was redesigned to accommodate the new national food consumption survey data.