Behaviour of pesticide residues from barley to beer: recent overview Navarro G.1,*, Vela N.2, Navarro S.1 1Departamento de Química Agrícola, Geología y Edafología. Facultad de Química. Universidad de Murcia. Campus Universitario de Espinardo. E-30100, Murcia. Spain. 2Facultad de Enfermería. Universidad Católica San Antonio. Campus de los Jerónimos. E-30107, Murcia. Spain. * E-mail of corresponding author : E-mail: gnavarro@um.es
Online published on 23 January, 2012. Abstract This paper reviews the influence of the different phases of the beermaking on the removal of pesticide residues. A recent overview about the behaviour and fate of agrochemical residues during the brewing stages based on the current data is presented. Depending upon the stage involved (malting, mashing, boiling and fermentation), the major factors influencing the stability of residues (temperature, pH and water content) and the physical-chemical properties of the pesticides (Kow, H and Ws) in the raw commodity, differences in their final fate are observed. As a general rule, the malsters should devote special attention to the residues of hydrophobic pesticides because they can remain on the malt. On the contrary, brewers should control residues of hydrophilic pesticides because they can be carried over into young beer inducing in some cases stuck/sluggish fermentation. Thus, the monitoring and surveillance of pesticide residues during the brewing process is essential to get a “healthy drink”. Additionally, the influence of pesticide residues on beer quality has been pointed. Top Keywords Agrochemicals, Beermaking, Quality control, Residues, Toxicological risk. Top |