Making best use of available residue data for acute intake assessment

Risk assessment for pesticide residues in food has previously concentrated on chronic intake, probably with the assumption that if the chronic intake is acceptable, acute intake will also be acceptable. Data generation is expensive so we should extract, where possible, information useful for acute intake estimation from supervised residue trials. Residues in individual units of fruit or vegetables are more variable than the residues in composite samples and the distribution in individual units is probably best approximated by a lognormal distribution, but further evidence is needed. Theory provides a method for calculating the variability of replicate composite samples and applying it to individual units. The expected residue in the 95th or 99th percentile single fruits may then be calculated. An example for folpet residues in apples showed that the 95th and 99th percentile apples would contain 1.8 x and 2.3 x the residue in the composite sample, respectively. For abamectin in apples the 95th and 99th percentile factors were 6.7 and 15, respectively. The 95th and 99th percentile factors for azinphos-methyl in apples, based on single apple analysis, were 1.7 and 2.1, respectively.