Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk of organochlorine pesticide residues in processed cereal-based complementary foods for infants and young children in Ghana Osei Akoto a,⇑ , John Oppong-Otoo b , Paul Osei-Fosu b a Department of Chemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana b Ghana Standards Authority, P.O. Box MB 245, Accra, Ghana highlights  Health risk of OCPs to babies from cereal-based complementary foods assessed.  Levels of p,p 0 -DDE, dieldrin, b-HCH, and c-HCH were higher than their MRLs.  Hazard ratio for carcinogenic by some of the pesticides were greater than 1.  Result raises concerns of possible carcinogenicity for infants and young children. article info Article history: Received 17 November 2014 Received in revised form 19 February 2015 Accepted 24 February 2015 Handling Editor: A. Gies Keywords: Hazard ratio Carcinogenicity Dietary intake Organochlorine Pesticides abstract Fourteen organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) residues were analyzed in 10 brands of processed cereal-based complementary foods with the aim of assessing the health risk to infants and young children. The QuEChERS method was used for extraction and clean-up of pesticide residues. Subsequent detection and quantification were done using GC with ECD and PFPD. Levels of p,p 0 -DDE, dieldrin, b-endosulfan, b-HCH, and c-HCH detected in the processed cereal-based complementary food were higher than their respective MRL. The mean estimated daily intakes of OCPs in infants were significantly higher than that of young children. Exposure levels of heptachlor and dieldrin were higher than their respective ADI’s. Their HIs recorded were greater than 1 indicating the possibility of adverse health effect on consumers. Hazard ratio for carcinogenic risk posed by b-HCH, dieldrin, heptachlor, c-HCH and c-chlordane were greater than 1. This result raises concerns of possible carcinogenicity for infants and young children. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), due to their ability to persist in the environment for long periods even after application. Many OCPs have been identified as hormone disrupters, exerting their toxic effects on the hormonal and reproductive systems thus resulting in adverse health effects to human (Golden et al., 1998; Hosie et al., 2000; Tiemann, 2008). Although enormous restrictions have been placed on the use of OCPs due to the entry into force of the Stockholm Convention on POPs (UNEP, 2004), there is still documented evidence of OCPs in food samples (Waliszewski et al., 2003; Da Silva et al., 2010; Dubois et al., 2010; Fernandes et al., 2011a; Akoto et al., 2013). OCPs have been detected in cereals and grains, such as wheat, maize and cowpea which are used as raw materials for processing cereal-based complementary foods (Toteja et al., 2003; Bakore et al., 2004; Mawussi et al., 2009; Akoto et al., 2013). Dietary intake represents a major route of pesticides exposure to humans especially children (Fenske et al., 2002a; Clayton et al., 2003). Due to their higher basal metabolic rate and energy requirements, children use more oxygen and therefore have a higher food consumption rate per kilogram body weight than adults (IPCS, 2004; FSA, 2012). Hence children risk higher than adults when exposed to contaminated food (Faustman et al., 2000; Kroes et al., 2002; IPCS, 2004). Several adverse health out- comes have been linked with children’s exposure to pesticides. Parkinson-like declines in dopaminergic neurons in adulthood (Cory-Slechta et al., 2005; Eskenazi et al., 2006), delayed puberty http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.02.056 0045-6535/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +233 208216685. E-mail address: wofakmann@yahoo.com (O. Akoto). Chemosphere 132 (2015) 193–199 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere