Study on universal cleaning solution in removing blended pesticide residues in Chinese cabbage

Food safety problems caused by pesticide residues in vegetables have become one of the top issues of public interest. In order to find an effective method of removing pesticide residues in vegetables, Chinese cabbages were processed as simulated pesticide pollution using three types of pesticides, namely; organophosphorus pesticide, organochlorine pesticide and pyrethroid pesticides. The polluted Chinese cabbages were washed using five types of cleaning solutions namely; glycyrrhiza-mung bean solution, garlic juice solution, soda-salt solution, tap water and washed-rice water. Gas chromatograghy (GC) was adopted to detect the contents of pesticide residues in the cabbages after washing them using five types of cleaning solutions. The results showed that soda-salt solution had the best removal effects on three types of pesticide residues among the five types of cleaning solutions used. And the washed- rice water had worse effects on three types of pesticide residues than tap water. Glycyrrhiza-mung bean solution had better removal effects on pyrethroid pesticide residues than tap water; and garlic juice solution had better removal effects on organochlorine pesticide residues than tap water. Although the different cleaning solutions had different removal effect on different types of pesticides; the pesticide removal efficiency of soda-salt solution was significantly higher than that of tap water; and soda-salt solution itself is a non-chemical substance and it’s easily prepared; therefore, the soda-salt solution can be used as a general-purpose cleaning solution to remove mixed pesticide residues in vegetables.