The cumulated chronic and acute risk of eating unprocessed tomatoes
on day three was significant for both adults and children. This is
despite using the relatively low estimated daily intake of tomatoes in
Bolivia of 25 g/person/day, corresponding to 1/4 of a tomato per day
(EFSA/FAO/WHO, 2011). As this number might well be a Bolivian average,
it is our impression that the tomato consumption in the tomato
growing areas of Bolivia is considerably higher, more likely resembling
the 100–200 g/person/day typical for Caribbean countries and eastern
Mediterranean countries (EFSA/FAO/WHO, 2011
Increasing the
chronic consumption to more than 1/4 tomato per person per day,
will also increase the chronic risk. In addition, it is important to emphasize
the fact that this study is confined to a small selection of pesticides
in only one food commodity. Other pesticides are also present in various
quantities in all cultivated commodities constituting a Bolivian diet. A
Venezuelan study of organophosphate pesticide residues in six different
vegetables, though, found tomatoes to have the highest detection frequency
(62.5%) (Quintero et al., 2008), making tomatoes an important
crop to investigate. In addition to the pesticides measured as part of
this study, tomato farmers reported the use of various other pesticides,
of which the concentrations are unknown (Table A.1)