Co-occurrence of Conazole Fungicide Residues in Raw Agricultural Commodities Sampled by the United States Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program.

In this study, the residue data for conazole fungicides were collated and analyzed in all crop samples reported by the United States Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program over the period of 2009-2019. Considering all individual samples, the overall detection frequencies (DFs) of conazoles are less than 13%. Among the 18 conazoles, imazalil had the highest overall DF of 6%, followed by tebuconazole and myclobutanil, with 4% each. Conazoles were detected most frequently in raisins with 28% DF, followed by cherries (frozen and fresh) and grapes, with 12, 10, and 10%, respectively. The presence of multiple conazoles in single commodity samples is very low, below 2%. The analyses found no more than four conazoles present in any given sample. Out of the 18 conazoles, 8 of them were not detected in more than 99.9% of the commodity samples from 2009 to 2019 and, therefore, can be eliminated from screening-level cumulative risk assessment for dietary contributions from food items. While conazoles are widely used on food commodities, co-occurrence of conazole residues was observed only in a very limited number of food commodities, including raisins, grapes, cherries (frozen), nectarines, and peaches. Considering the remaining individual food commodities, the co-occurrence of conazole residues in single commodity samples is very low or not even present.