title: Fumigants and related chemicals in foods: review of residue findings, contamination sources, and analytical methods.
abstract: Public concern over chemical residues in foods increased in the United States during the early 1980s. Potentially hazardous levels of ethylene dibromide (EDB), a relatively non-volatile fumigant, were detected in several finished grain-based products by governmental food-monitoring laboratories. As a result, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of EDB as a fumigant in 1983. Commercial fumigators then began using more of the highly volatile chemicals such as methyl bromide and phosphine. These chemicals are less likely to leave residues on stored crops than the previously used fumigants such as EDB, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride. However, trace residues of many pest-control fumigants and related industrial chemicals are currently found in assorted foods. This contamination may come from the original fumigation of stored crops, or from the industrial chemicals occurring in the environment and in food processing chains. No potential health problem is indicated at this time. Yet scientists continue to uncover the sources of this chemical contamination, and to develop better methods to monitor foods for it. They also seek better ways to protect foodstuffs from pests prior to human consumption.
authors.affiliation: US Department of Health and Human Service, Food and Drug Administration, Kansas City, MO 64106.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Daft
mesh_terms: D015946:Ethylene Dibromide / Q000633:toxicity; D005504:Food Analysis; D005506:Food Contamination; D005511:Food Handling; D005651:Fumigation; D006801:Humans; D012997:Solvents / Q000633:toxicity; D014481:United States; D014484:United States Environmental Protection Agency
chemical_list: D012997:Solvents; D015946:Ethylene Dibromide