Analysis of Glyphosate Residues in Foods from the Canadian Retail Markets between 2015 and 2017

Abstract

Underlying the risk management of pesticides to protect human health and to facilitate trade among nations are sound scientific data on the levels of compliance with standards set by governments and internationally from monitoring of the levels of pesticides in foods. Although glyphosate is among the universally used pesticides in the world, monitoring has been hampered by the analytical difficulties in dealing with this highly polar compound. Starting in 2015, using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) that permits accurate and reproducible determination of glyphosate, the prevalence, concentrations, and compliance rates were determined. In this work, the glyphosate residues contents of 7955 samples of fresh fruits and vegetables, milled grain products, pulse products, and finished foods collected from April 2015 to March 2017 in the Canadian retail market are reported. A total of 3366 samples (42.3%) contained detectable glyphosate residues. The compliance rate with Canadian regulations was 99.4%. There were 46 noncompliant samples. Health Canada determined that there was no long-term health risk to Canadian consumers from exposure to the levels of glyphosate found in the samples of a variety of foods surveyed. The high level of compliance (99.4% of samples with the Canadian regulatory limits) and the lack of a health risk for noncompliant samples indicate that, with respect to glyphosates, the food available for sale in Canada is safe.

Fate of glyphosate in wheat during milling and bread production

“…The predominance of glyphosate residues in the outer kernel layers is consistent with results from surveys of retail level wheat and wheat products (Granby et al., 2003; Kolakowski et al., 2020) as well as milling trials conducted in the mid‐1980s (Steinmetz, 1984; Steinmetz & Cowell, 1984). All wheat bran samples analyzed in the first two years of Granby et al .’s study contained measurable residues, while only about 60% of wheat grain and flour samples did.…”

“…observed the highest concentration (8.5 mg/kg) in a survey of food items in a sample of wheat bran. They also reported that products made with whole wheat flour or wheat bran had higher concentrations of glyphosate than other products (Kolakowski et al., 2020).…”

“…Glyphosate residues have been reported in wheat and wheat‐based foods, in addition to foods prepared from other grains (Xu et al., 2019). A recent survey of Canadian retail products found that 76% of the 807 wheat and wheat products analyzed contained measureable glyphosate, but that none of the residues exceeded the Canadian maximum residue limits of 15 mg/kg for wheat bran and 5 mg/kg for wheat grain and wheat products (Kolakowski et al., 2020). A retail survey conducted in Switzerland also observed the frequent occurrence of low concentrations of glyphosate in wheat‐based products (Zoller et al., 2018).…”

Residues of glyphosate in food and dietary exposure

“…In addition to the glyphosate residue levels summarized above for two major crops, soybean and maize, residue levels are available for other crops, including fruits, vegetables, and other grains, including regulatory agency surveys (EFSA, 2018(EFSA, , 2019(EFSA, , 2020Kolakowski et al, 2020;Zoller et al, 2018). An early government agency report about analyzing foods for glyphosate was conducted on samples collected in 2010 and 2012 in Germany (Scherbaum et al, 2012).…”

“…Glyphosate has not been found in milk, eggs, or fish from seven regulatory agency surveys, all of which used validated assays (EFSA, 2018(EFSA, , 2019(EFSA, , 2020FDA, 2018bFDA, , 2019Kolakowski et al, 2020;Zoller et al, 2018). One exception for the lack of glyphosate in animal products is that glyphosate was above the LOQ in three samples of sausage or meat loaf in the study of Zoller et al (2018), but there was no information about whether these samples were 100% meat or if they contained plant-based fillers.…”