The impact of pesticide residues on food safety is a complex issue involving public health, agricultural production, and ecological environment. In modern agricultural production, although the use of pesticides has increased crop yields, residual problems caused by excessive or improper use are increasingly threatening food safety. After pesticide residues enter the human body through the food chain, they may cause acute or chronic poisoning. Long term low-dose exposure to organophosphate pesticides can inhibit cholinesterase activity, leading to neurological dysfunction, headaches, dizziness, and even respiratory failure in severe cases. What is even more concerning is that certain organochlorine pesticides have environmental persistence and can accumulate in human adipose tissue. Long term exposure may disrupt the endocrine system, increase the risk of cancer, reproductive disorders, and developmental abnormalities.

The harm of pesticide residues to special populations is particularly significant. Infants and young children are more sensitive to pesticides due to underdeveloped metabolic systems, and residual pesticides may affect their neurological development and immune function. Pregnant women exposed to certain pyrethroid pesticides may increase the risk of fetal malformations, while elderly people are more susceptible to pesticide residue damage due to weakened detoxification function. From a food safety perspective, pesticide residues not only exist on the surface of vegetables and fruits, but may also be absorbed by plants and enter the interior of agricultural products, making simple cleaning difficult to remove. Some pesticides undergo chemical transformations during the cooking process, producing more toxic metabolites, such as the conversion of dimethoate into the more toxic oxidized dimethoate during heating.

The issue of pesticide residues also involves deeper ecological impacts. Long term use of the same type of pesticide can lead to pest resistance, forcing farmers to increase their dosage and creating a vicious cycle. The migration and transformation of pesticides in the environment can also contaminate water sources and soil, and gradually amplify in the food chain through bioaccumulation, ultimately threatening the safety of the entire ecosystem. To address this challenge, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive regulatory system from farmland to dining tables, promote green prevention and control technologies, strengthen guidance on pesticide use and residue monitoring, and enhance consumers' scientific understanding of pesticide residues to jointly safeguard the bottom line of food safety.