Pesticide residues in tea: challenges in detection and control

Description

Tea growers require pesticides to prevent crop loss due to pest attacks, which are aggravated by climate change. As pesticides invariably leave residues, it is of utmost importance that samples of traded tea are monitored to ensure compliance to food safety standards. This chapter reviews research into the extent of pesticide residues in tea, conventional methods for determining trace levels of multiple residues in tea and the problems with these methods and advanced, rapid methods which are more suitable for ensuring food safety. We also consider food safety standards in the EU and Japan, methods of assessing the risk posed by pesticide residues and strategies for reducing the residues in tea.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Measuring pesticide residues in tea 3 Review of recent research on the extent of pesticide residues in tea 4 Conventional methods for detecting residues in tea 5 Advanced methods for detecting residues in tea 6 Food safety standards for tea and the challenges of maintaining maximum residue limits (MRLs) 7 Strategies for reducing pesticide residues in tea 8 Conclusion and future trends 9 References