Degradation Trends of Some Insecticides and Microbial Changes during Sauerkraut Fermentation under Laboratory...

The aim of this study was to monitor the degradation of three insecticides licensed for the control of cabbage moths during the 14-day fermentation period of sauerkraut samples. The hypothesis of this study is that the different sauerkraut fermentation processes could affect the degradation of applied insecticides. For this purpose, the fresh cabbage leaves contaminated with (λ-cyhalothrin, malathion, and chlorpyrifos-methyl) were left for fermentation with and without (natural) starter addition (Lactobacillus plantarum 112), and vacuum-packed as a control under laboratory conditions. The pH values and microbial growth were periodically monitored in sauerkraut samples during the fermentation period. During this time, the insecticide residues were determined in control and treatment samples using LC-MS-MS. In control samples, the degradation of chlorpyrifos-methyl and malathion was higher with rates of 69 and 98%, respectively, compared with the sauerkraut samples (12 and 59%; 31 and 34%, respectively) 14 days after the insecticide application. At the end of fermentation (14 d), no significant reduction in λ-cyhalothrin was detected in both treatments and control (13-19% reduction). The current study demonstrated that the presence of the lactic acid bacteria in the sauerkraut fermentation accelerated pH decline (below 4.0), and these fermentation conditions probably decelerated the degradation of malathion and chlorpyrifos-methyl. The results showed that the stability of different insecticides varied during the same fermentation process.