Insecticides in Indian Food Products

Abstract The current usage of insecticides and pesticides in modern food industry and agriculture is surely evident in many industrialised countries such as India. Despite their use as crop protection chemicals, their toxic action has been remembered by environmentalists as well as food and agricultural scientists. Organic insecticides—mainly organochlorines, organophosphorus, carbamates and pyrethrins/pyrethroids—are extensively used for crop protection, but their limitation is correlated with safety consequences. Azadirachtin, the interesting natural insecticidal compound extracted from neem trees, may be a solution against environmental harms caused by synthetic insecticides and pesticides. Indian food business operators have to face consequences of the excessive use of insecticides in farms as rejections of export consignments. Countries possessing enough dense infrastructure, particularly European countries, are capable of keeping insecticide at minimum residue levels lower than India. Also for this reason, the Indian Country needs dense forestation.

Keywords Carbamate Forestation Insecticide Organochlorine Organophosphorous Pyrethrin Pyrethroid

Abbreviations

BHC Benzene hexachloride

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane

FAO Food and Agricultural Organization

FSSR Food Safety and Standards Regulation

HCN Hydrogen cyanide

LD₅₀ Lethal dosage

MRL Maximum residue level

R.K. Sharma and S. Parisi, Toxins and Contaminants in Indian Food Products, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-48049-7_1