Pesticide residue in food, especially in vegetables, is one of the important parameters to assess food safety. This study evaluates the pesticide use in vegetables from two provinces in Central Vietnamand and present data on pesticides detected in vegetables sampled from the sites. The potential health risk associated with the contamination of four commonly used pesticides in different vegetables is also discussed. Both household surveys and monitoring campaigns were conducted. The survey showed that improper pesticide application, storage, and waste disposal prevailed at the study sites. Only 20% of the respondent were aware of pesticide toxicity. As a result, pesticides were detected in 81% out of 290 vegetable samples collected at harvesting time. Up to 23% of samples had pesticide residues above the Maximum Residue Limit values. The highest total pesticide concentration quantified in vegetables in Thua Thien Hue was 11.9 mg/kg (green onions), and in Quang Binh was 38.6 mg/kg (mustard greens). Median residue levels of individual pesticides in vegetables ranged from 0.007 to 0.037 mg/kg. Among the ten target pesticides, cypermethrin, difenoconazole, and fenobucarb were detected at the highest frequencies (72%, 41%, and 37%, respectively). Pesticide residues varied between seasons at both study provinces. Pesticide contamination in the wet season was significantly higher than in the dry season. This study also discovered a potential health risk associated with fipronil residues in vegetables in Thua Thien Hue province. The paper provides recommendations for mitigation measures (both technological and social) in reducing potential health risks linked to pesticide use in vegetables in the region.

This work proposed a novel procedure of Water Quality Index (WQI) development that could be used for practical applications on a local or regional scale, based on available monitoring data. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the monthly data of 11 water quality parameters (pH, conductivity (EC), total suspended solid (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), five -day biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (N-NH₄), nitrate (N-NO₃), phosphate (P-PO₄), total coliform, and total dissolved iron monitored at 11 sites at Huong river in the years 2014–2016. From the PCA, the three extracted principal components explained 67% of the total variance of original variables. From the set of communality values, the weight (w_i) for each parameter was determined. Linear sub-index functions were established based on the permissible limits from the National Technical Regulations on Surface Water Quality set up by the Vietnam Environment Agency (VEA) to derive the sub-index (q_i) for each parameter. The multiplicative formula that is the product of the sub-indices (q_i) raised to the respective weights (w_i), was used for calculation of the final WQI values. The proposed index (WQI) was then applied to the river with quarterly data of the 11 parameters monitored at ten sites in the years 2017–2020. The WQI representatively reflected the actual status of the river overall water quality, of which 97.8% of the WQI values belonged to grades of EXCELLENT and GOOD, and 2.2% of grade MODERATE. Comparison between the river water quality evaluations resulting from the developed WQI with the WQI adopted by National Sanitation Foundation (NSF-WQI) and the index issued by Vietnam Environment Agency (VN-WQI) indicated that the proposed WQI was more suitable for river quality assessment.

In this paper, the classical least-squares (CLS) method with molecular absorption spectrophotometric measurement was used to determine simultaneously paracetamol (PAR), ibuprofen (IBU), and caffeine (CAF) in tablets. The absorbance spectra of the standard solutions and samples were measured over a wavelength from 220 to 300 nm with a 0.5 nm step. The concentration of PAR, IBU, and CAF in the sample solutions was calculated by using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and a program called CLS-Excel written in Microsoft Excel 2016. The method and the CLS-Excel program were tested on mixed standard laboratory samples with different PAR, IBU, and CAF concentration ratios, and they showed only small errors and a satisfying repeatability. An analytical procedure for tablets containing PAR, IBU, and CAF was developed. The reliability of the procedure was proved via the recovery and repeatability of the analysis results with an actual tablet sample and by comparing the mean contents of active substances in the tablets obtained from the analytical procedure with the HPLC method. The procedure is simple with a reduced cost compared with the HPLC standard method.

A GC-MS/MS method with low solvent consumption and easy operation was developed to simultaneously determine ten new-generation pesticides, namely fenobucarb, acetochlor, pretilachlor, fipronil, trifloxystrobin, fluazifop-p-butyl, isoprothiolane, tebuconazole, cypermethrin and difenoconazole in leafy vegetables. Influences from ultrasonic sample extraction and the clean-up steps to reduce matrix effects were investigated. Under suitable conditions, good linearity (deviation of back calculated concentration from true concentration lower than 20%) was achieved for all studied pesticides; the method detection limits (MDLs) ranged from 1.4 to 3.6 ng g⁻¹ wet weight. For mustard green and green onion the method yielded good recoveries at two spiking levels (20¹ and 100 ng g⁻¹) ranging from 80% to 111% (n = 5). The repeatability, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD), was lower than 11% (n = 5). The method was successfully used to quantify pesticide residues in 207 vegetable samples (green onions, mustard greens, and lettuce) collected in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Binh Provinces, Central Vietnam. The insecticide cypermethrin was found at critical levels in 98% of the vegetable samples. Green onions had high pesticide residues with a significant number of samples containing pesticides at concentrations exceeding the maximum residue levels (MRLs).