Dissipation Behavior of Three Fungicides during the Industrial Processing of Paeoniae Radix Alba and Associated Processing Factors

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 16; no. 12; p. 2196
• Main Authors: Li, Sheng-Nan, Sun, Ming-Na, Wang, Fan, Xu, Xing, Zhang, Xin-Hong, Ma, Jin-Juan, Xiao, Jin-Jing, Liao, Min, Cao, Hai-Qun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 21.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Boiling; Centrifuges; Chemical Industry; Chromatography; Cooling effects; Desiccants; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - chemistry; Drying; Fungicides; Fungicides, Industrial - chemistry; Gas flow; Herbal medicine; Hot Temperature; Humans; Magnesium; Magnesium sulfate; Mass spectrometry; Medicine; Paeonia - chemistry; Pesticide residues; Pesticide Residues - analysis; Pesticides; Purification; Scientific imaging; Software; Solid phases; Sorbents; Standard deviation; Water baths; United States > US; China; pesticides residues; fungicide; Paeoniae Radix Alba; processing factors
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16122196

Before being administered as medicinal products, Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) must be processed and decocted for human consumption. While the presence of pesticide residues in CHMs is a major concern, pesticide dissipation behavior during CHM processing has rarely been reported. In this study, the dissipation of three pesticide residues in the CHM Alba (PRA) was investigated during each step of industrial processing. The boiling process was found to significantly reduce pesticide residues (61-89%), and the peeling process also contributed to pesticide degradation (29-68%). The high temperature (60 °C) during the drying process led to further pesticide degradation. The processing factors of all three pesticides after each processing step were less than one, and the processing factors for the overall process were lower than 0.027, indicating that industrial processing clearly reduced the amount of pesticide residues (97.3-99.4%). The findings provide guidance for the safe use of fungicides in CHMs and can help establish maximum residue limits for PRA to reduce human exposure to pesticides.