Occurrence of Organochlorine pesticide residues in buffalo milk of Dhanbad city, Jharkhand, India

Despite the fact that the consumption of pesticides in India is still very low, about 0.5 kg/ha of pesticides, there has been a widespread contamination of food commodities with pesticide residues, basically due to non-judicious use of pesticides. The widespread application of pesticides in agriculture, industry and infrastructure, public health can result in the accumulation of pesticides in the environment. Therefore, a survey was conducted to analyze the levels of organochlorine pesticide residues in buffalo milk from different locations of Dhanbad city, Jharkhand, India. Milk samples were collected seasonally, and pesticide residues were assessed using a gas chromatograph (GC) with an electron capture detector (ECD). The results indicate that the milk samples were contaminated with aldrin, isomers of hexalchlorocyclohexane (HCH; alpha, beta, and gamma), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites (DDE and p, p’-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane [DDD]), and isomers of endosulfan (alpha, beta and endosulfan sulfate). Seasonal variations of these pesticide residue levels were also observed in all the milk samples. Samples collected during winter season were found to contain higher residue levels as compared to other seasons.