Variability of pesticide residues: A critical review for acute risk assessment

Pesticides represent a global economic and human health concern due to significant adverse health and environmental issues affecting consumers and the producers worldwide. Additionally, variability of pesticide residues plays an important role for consumers acute risk assessment. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to collect and synthesize the available research works conducted on the estimation of variability factors (Vfs) of pesticide residues for the first time in the world. Herein, all the available published articles related to the variability factor of pesticide residues and their consequences in acute risk assessment to ensure food safety has been reviewed and presented with utmost care. Based on the available data, it was found that the variation of Vfs was higher in fruits compared to vegetables. In case of fruits, the Vfs ranged from 0.9 to 34.0, while in case of vegetables, it was 1.0–8.0. Furthermore, we highlighted the gaps in determining Vfs of pesticide residues. The main gap is the lack of data on the Vfs for large sized commodity crops. Most of the Vfs are derived from the small and medium sized commodity crops. Consequently the precise study should be conducted in this regard. Therefore, this review is focused on all these aspects, along with present studies related to this area, to provide in-depth information for the readers. More importantly, the recommendations are given for future research to fill the most relevant data gaps.