Dr. Park Deok-woong of Gwangju Health and Environment Research Institute Publishes in SCIE-Level Journal

International Journal 'Foods' February Issue: 'Residual Pesticides in Leafy Vegetables and Risk Assessment'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Gwangju Metropolitan City Health and Environment Research Institute announced on the 5th that a paper on pesticide residues in leafy vegetables by Park Deok-woong, a health researcher (Ph.D. in Science), titled "Monitoring of Pesticide Residues and Risk Assessment in Leafy Vegetables Using a Residue Monitoring Program from the Largest Domestic Leafy Vegetable Production Area: A 15-Year Study," was published in the latest February issue of the prestigious SCIE international journal Foods (IF=4.092).

This paper analyzes the results of pesticide residue tests on a vast 17,977 samples of leafy vegetables collected from Gwangju and Jeolla regions, the largest domestic leafy vegetable production areas, over 15 years from 2005 to 2019, and includes safety evaluations of non-compliant agricultural products.

The Gwangju Health and Environment Research Institute inspected pesticide residues in a total of over 36,000 agricultural products from 2005 to 2019, detecting violations of pesticide residue limits in 530 cases, of which 426 cases (80.4%) were leafy vegetables, indicating the need for in-depth research on these.

This study is academically significant as it represents the world's longest and largest-scale research analysis on pesticide residues in leafy vegetables over 15 years.

Key research findings include, first, a significant decrease in the non-compliance rate of leafy vegetables compared to before 2010. The non-compliance rates of highly consumed domestic leafy vegetables such as lettuce, perilla leaves, and spinach have greatly decreased, confirming improved safety of these agricultural products.

Secondly, the 15-year inspection results showed that certain pesticides were repeatedly detected, with specific pesticide components tending to exceed permissible limits in particular agricultural products, and long-term trends in these pesticide residues and detection frequencies were observed.

Based on these results, a database was established to focus management on the major detected pesticide components.

Thirdly, 15 types of leafy vegetables exceeding the pesticide residue limits accounted for more than 80% of all non-compliant leafy vegetables, indicating the need for careful management of these leafy vegetable items.

The study indicates that although the human health risk from major pesticide components exceeding residue limits was low, continuous pesticide use management and caution are necessary because chronic ingestion of pesticides through food or exposure through spraying can impair cognitive functions, especially in the elderly and vulnerable groups.

Researcher Park said, "I am pleased to provide valuable information to citizens through the analysis of the work performed and to receive high academic recognition from the scholarly community."

Jung Jae-geun, director of the Gwangju Health and Environment Research Institute, said, "Even while doing our best to conduct inspections to block COVID-19 around the clock, being published in the internationally renowned journal Foods has raised the status of the Gwangju Health and Environment Research Institute both domestically and internationally," adding, "We will continue to conduct more meticulous pesticide residue inspections on local agricultural products based on research results to establish a flawless agricultural product safety assurance system."

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