Studies on the determination of pesticide residual levels in grapes produced in Mani̇sa

The aim of this study was to determine the pesticide residues in fresh grape samples from significant grape production centers, namely the districts of Salihli, Alaşehir, and Sarıgöl, located in the province of Manisa, Turkey. A total of 260 pesticide active ingredients were investigated within the grape samples. In the study, at least one pesticide residue was found in all 54 samples, two pesticides were found in 5 samples, and 3 or more pesticide residues were found in 43 samples. The identified pesticides were evaluated considering the European Union Maximum Residue Limits (EU-MRL), and out of the detected 301 pesticide residue values, 294 were below the MRL, while 7 exceeded the MRL. According to the analysis results, 32 different pesticide active substances were detected. Nine of them were insecticides (acetamiprid, buprofezin, chlorantraniliprole, cyhalothrin, deltamethrin, flubendiamide, indoxacarb, methoxyfenozide, and tebufenozide), and 23 of them were fungicides (ametoctradin, azoxystrobin, boscalid, bupirimate, cymoxanil, cyprodinil, difenoconazole, dimethomorph, famoxadone, fluopicolide, fluopyram, kresoxim-methyl, mandipropamid, metalaxyl-M, metrafenone, myclobutanil, penconazole, pyrimethanil, spiroxamine, tetraconazole, tebuconazole, triadimenol, and trifloxystrobin). The most frequently detected chemicals were pyrimethanil, boscalid, and cyprodinil. It is concerning that buprofezin was used in vineyards without a license for any specific pest.