ABSTRACT

The monitoring of organochlorine insecticides (HCB, HCH, and DDT) in citrus fruits taken from the market was carried out in 9 regions in Poland in the years 1996-1997. The concentrations of the insecticides were measured in the edible part and in the peel separately. The total number of 331 samples of oranges, lemons, grapefruits and mandarins were subjected residue analysis. The mean concentrations of the organochlorine compounds in the edible parts amounted 0.0002 mg/kg for HCB, and ranged from 0,0081 to 0.0247 mg/kg for ZHCH and from 0,0041 to 0.022 for DDT depending on the product. The highest contrentrations together with the highest violation rate (9.5%) of the Polish Maximum Residue Limit was found in case of DDT. The mean concentrations of the insecticides in the citrus peels were not markedly higher than those in the edible parts. The results obtained in this monitoring did not differ from the results reported by the other authors.