Dissipation of profenofos, imidacloprid and penconazole in tomato fruits and products.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of some technological processes on the residual levels of profenofos, imidacloprid and penconazole in tomato fruits and products. According to their half-life (t (1/2)) values, tomato fruits can be safely harvested for human consumption or for processing purposes 3 days after the spray time of imidacloprid and penconazole and 7 days after in the case of profenofos. Pesticide residues were greatly decreased in tomato juice under cold or hot break compared with that taken from unwashed tomato fruits. A sharp decline in profenofos level was noted after treatment by pectinex ultra SP-L and benzyme M during tomato crushing.