Effect of Food Processing on Degradation of Hexachlorocyclohexane and its Isomers in Milk

Aim: To study the effect of different food processing techniques on the degradation of organochlorine compounds (α, β, ɣ and δ hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCH)) residues in both natural and fortified samples of milk.
Materials and Methods: Raw milk samples are collected from the local areas of Hyderabad, India. Naturally and fortified milk samples (HCH) were subjected to various food processing techniques, pasteurization (63°C for 1/2 h), sterilization (121°C for 15 min) and boiling for 5 min and analyzed by gas chromatography with electron capture detector using quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe method for multiresidue analysis of pesticides in milk with slight modification.
Results: The final mean residual concentration of pesticide in milk after heat processing and percentage of degradation were calculated with respective treatments.
Conclusion: Heat treatments are highly effective on reduction of mean residual concentration of HCH in milk. In which Sterilization and boiling proved to be more effective in degradation of HCH isomers.