Abstract: Food processing can not only change food quality characteristics, but also have effects on food safety characteristics, such as pesticide residues. Most unit processing operations, including washing, peeling, juicing, sterilization and fermentation, could largely reduce pesticide residue levels in food, but some processing operations, such as concentration, drying and oil extraction, may lead to an increase in pesticide residue levels. In addition, some pesticide residues can be converted into other chemicals during food processing. Good knowledge of the effects of food processing on pesticide residues can provide a basis for optimizing food processing technologies and more importantly, basic data for food safety risk assessment. This paper reviews the effects of commonly used treatments in food processing on pesticide residues.

Key words: food processing, pesticide residues, effect