Organochlorine pesticides residues in butter, olive oils and corn oils

Dietary fat and oil is important for many body processes. The present investigation was carried out to determine the concentrations of organochlorine pesticides in butter, olive and corn oil. A total of 125 samples (75 butter, 25 each of olive oil and corn oil) were collected from El Minia Governorate, Egypt. Levels of these compounds were determined by gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). The results indicated that 30.4%(38/125), 24.8%(31/125), 21.6%(27/125), 21.6%(27/125), 16.8%(21/125), 14.4%(18/125), 14.4%(18/125), 12.8%(16/125), 9.6%(12/125), 8.8%(11/125), 8%(10/125), 1.6%(2/125) and 0.8%(1/125) of the examined samples were contaminated with Heptachlor, Endrin, Aldrin, Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene(p,p'-DDE), Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane(p,p'-DDD), Gamma hexachlorocyclohexane(Gamma HCH), Heptachlor epoxide, Dieldrin, Endosulfan, methoxychlor, Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane(Alpha HCH), Delta hexachlorocyclohexane(Delta HCH) and Gamma Chlordane, respectively. None of the examined samples revealed the presence of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p'-DDT) and 11 samples contained organochlorine residues above European Union maximum residue limits (EU MRL)