Identification of the main pesticide residue mixtures to which the French population is exposed

Owing to the intensive use of pesticides and their potential persistence in the environment, various pesticide residues can be found in the diet. Consumers are therefore exposed to complex pesticide mixtures which may have combined adverse effects on human health. By modelling food exposure to multiple pesticides, this paper aims to determine the main mixtures to which the general population is exposed in France. Dietary exposure of 3337 individuals from the INCA2 French national consumption survey was assessed for 79 pesticide residues, based on results of the 2006 French food monitoring programmes. Individuals were divided into groups with similar patterns of co-exposure using the clustering ability of a Bayesian nonparametric model. In the 5 groups of individuals with the highest exposure, mixtures are formed by pairs of pesticides with correlations above 0.7. Seven mixtures of 2-6 pesticides each were characterised. We identified the commodities that contributed the most to exposure. Pesticide mixtures can either be components of a single plant protection product applied together on the same crop or be from separate products that are consumed together during a meal. Of the 25 pesticides forming the mixtures, two-DDT and Dieldrin-are known persistent organic pollutants. The approach developed is generic and can be applied to all types of substances found in the diet in order to characterise the mixtures that should be studied first because of their adverse effects on health.