Determination of 301 pesticide residues in tropical fruits imported to Turkey using LC–MS/MS and GC-MS

Abstract

This study was carried out to detect pesticide residues in tropical fruits. QuEChERS method was validated to determine 301 different pesticides in high water content commodities and high acid content commodities by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Matrix effects were determined for all pesticides in banana, blueberry, lime, mango, and pineapple. Signal suppression and enhancement were observed depending on the analyte/matrix combination within the scope of the study. Tropical fruits imported from Brazil, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Poland, Chile and Thailand were collected from the markets in Aksaray, Kayseri, Kırşehir, Konya, Nevşehir, Sivas and Tokat provinces of Turkey. The method was used to analyze 48 tropical fruits, including banana, blueberry, golden berry, lime, mango, tamarind, and pineapple. Pesticide residues were detected in one sample (16.66%) of golden berry, 4 samples (57.14%) of mango, 5 samples of (83.33%) blueberry, 9 samples (90%) of lime, and 6 samples (100%) banana. Pineapple and tamarind samples did not contain any pesticide residue. Imazalil sulfate was most commonly detected pesticide (8 lime samples). The pesticide residue levels all tropical fruit samples were found below to EU-MRLs.