Sorption of sulfuryl fluoride by food commodities

The use of sulfuryl fluoride, a structural fumigant for termite and woodborer control, has recently been expanded to treating stored food commodities and food facilities. There is, however, a lack of data on the sorption of sulfuryl fluoride by food commodities. Knowledge about sorption is important in the context of effective treatment and residues.

When sulfuryl fluoride was applied at a dose of 50 g m(-3) to various food commodities (total 68) with 300 g per replicate in 0.75 L gas wash bottles (fumigation chambers) at 25 +/- 1 degrees C, in most cases (81%) the gas concentrations in the free space of the commodities exceeded 50 g m(-3) (range 51-80 g m(-3)) at the end of 24 h exposure. In chambers without the substrate, an average concentration of 49.7 g m(-3) was recorded. About 54% of the commodities showed low-level ( < or = 25%) sorption of sulfuryl fluoride, 34% showed medium-level (26-50%) sorption and only 12% were highly sorptive (>50%). The latter include white oats (terminal gas concentration 17.8 g m(-3)), some of the decorticated split pulses (24.0-29.3 g m(-3)), chickpea flour (26.3 g m(-3)), dried ginger (29.0 g m(-3)), refined wheat flour (30.3 g m(-3)) and coriander powder (40.5 g m(-3)). In unfumigated control commodities, owing to interfering volatiles, Fumiscope readings in the range 0-13 were noted.

Sulfuryl fluoride has the advantage of a low or moderate level of sorption with the majority of the food commodities.