Research progress on the quality and safety status and safety production of cowpea in China

LUO Junxia; GUO Zhigang; SHEN Zhanbin; DUAN Lumei; LI Yanzhen; DOU Zhipei; ZHNAG Qicheng; ZHAO Jianbo; SU He; JIE Lingjun; LIU Yanmin

doi:10.16861/j.cnki.zggc.2025.0346

Abstract：In recent years,the quality and safety of cowpeas has drawn significant attention,primarily due to contamina-tion issues related to pesticide residues and heavy metals.In terms of pesticide residues,the key risk factors affecting their quality and safety include the illegal use of banned or restricted pesticides,excessive use of conventional pesticides,and the coexistent of multiple residues.Regarding heavy metals,traditional heavy metal elements are one of the risk factors affecting their quality and safety,while excessively high levels of beneficial trace elements in the human body can also affect their quality and safety.In order to comprehensively improve the quality and safety level of cowpea,it is essential to identify the primary sources of various hazards during production,analyze their key control points,and implement effective measures to manage these risk factors.Through analysis,the relationship between the half-life of pesticide resi-dues in cowpea and its own metabolic amount,as well as the relationship between the growth duration of cowpea organs and the accumulation of heavy metals,have been revealed.This suggests that during cowpea production,pesticides should be applied in a timely manner according to the occurrence patterns of pests and diseases,and precisely applied according to the half-life of pesticides within the plant to control pesticide residues in the cowpea products.Furthermore,the selection of production sites should be strengthened,and based on the detection of heavy metals in production sites,targeted selection of cowpea varieties with low accumulation of heavy metals should be made to control heavy metal resi-dues in cowpea products.