Determination of 30 carbamate pesticide residues in vegetative foods by QuEChERS-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Via the classification of vegetative foods in British Standard EN 15662, six representative food matrices were chosen in the current study. The QuEChERS method for each matrix was optimized. The 30 carbamate pesticide residues in the samples after pretreatment were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in positive ionization mode. According to the experimental results, the linear ranges were 1-100 µg/kg for aldicarb sulfone and 2-100 µg/kg for the others. The recoveries at three spiked levels of 5, 20 and 100 µg/kg in the six representative matrices were between 56.13% and 127.6%, with the RSDs between 0.47% and 16%. The limits of quantification (S/N-10) were in the range of 0.041-1.9 kg/kg. In conclusion, this method provides a sensitive and efficient way suitable for the analysis of the 30 carbamate pesticide residues in vegetative foods.