| Abstract: | Residue levels of organophosphorus, organochlorine and carbarmate insecticides, urea, carbamate and anilide herbicides, carbendazim, fumigants and bromide were determined in home-grown and imported wheat sampled at UK flour mills during the period February 1987 to December 1988. A total of 764 samples was analysed but not all the wheats were tested for all the residues; 140 of 474 samples examined for organophosphorus insecticides contained residues at levels above the reporting limit, 23 of 119 samples contained residues of gamma-HCH, seven of 104 contained carbon tetrachloride and one of 104 contained 1,2-dibromoethane. No residues of urea, carbamate or anilide herbicides, carbendazim, carbaryl or methyl bromide were detected in 32, 40, 44 and 45 samples respectively. Inorganic bromide levels in 45 samples examined were consistent with natural occurrence. Only a single imported wheat was found to contain a residue (of 1,2-dibromoethane) at a level in excess of UK statutory maximum residue levels. |
