AICRP on Pesticide Residues Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand-388 110, India
Online published on 3 November, 2011.
Monitoring study revealed that all ghee and butter samples of popular as well as local brands were found to be contaminated with DDT and HCH isomers. The levels of ΣHCH and ΣDDT in ghee samples ranged from 0.02 to 4.96 ug/g and 0.02 to 7.62 ug/g with a mean level of 1.84 and 2.38 ug/g respectively. The corresponding values for butter samples ranged from 0.86 to 3.68 and 1.65 to 5.84 ug/g with a mean level of 2.04 and 3.55 ug/g respectively. Of the total 52 ghee samples, only 6 exceeded the extraneous residue limit of 0.2 ug/g for γ-HCH, whereas 35 samples showed higher levels than the extraneous residue limit of 1.25 ug/g for ΣDDT. In case of butter, none, exceeded the level of 0.2 ug/g, γ-HCH, however, all the 4 samples had higher ΣDDT levels than 1.25 ug/g.
