Determination of 31 pesticide residues in wolfberry by LC-MS/MS and dietary risk assessment of wolfberry consumption

Lijie Xing,Liangjun Zou,Yuan Wang,Xianyi Li,Ruifeng Luo

doi:10.1590/fst.61921

Abstract

A modified QuEChERS method coupled with LC-MS/MS was developed and validated to detect 31 pesticides in wolfberry. The conditions for extraction solvent and QuEChERS purification were optimized. The validated method was applied to analyse pesticides in 200 wolfberry samples. The risk from chronic and acute dietary intake of the detected pesticide residues was assessed by the acceptable daily intake (ADI) and acute reference dose (ARfD), respectively, and the cumulative intake risk posed by the detected residues was assessed by the hazard index (HI). The results showed that 23 pesticides were detected in all wolfberry samples. The risk from chronic dietary intake was between 0.0001% and 1.6067%, and the risk from acute dietary intake was between 0.0010% and 0.4999%, which were all far below 100%. The HI was 0.02569 for chronic dietary intake and 0.015164 for acute dietary intake, which were both far below 1. The results indicated that the pesticide residues in wolfberry would not cause potential risk to human health. This work not only enhances our understanding of the potential exposure risks of pesticide residues in wolfberry, but also provides an effective method for the risk assessment of pesticide residues in other agricultural products.

Highlights

Wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.) is a perennial deciduous shrub with ellipsoid orange-red berries (Zhao et al, 2015)
A modified QuEChERS method coupled with LC-MS/MS was established and validated for the determination of 31 pesticides residues in wolfberry
The pesticides detected in different areas differed, some pesticides were common to all regions

Summary

Introduction

Wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.) is a perennial deciduous shrub with ellipsoid orange-red berries (Zhao et al, 2015). It is a Solanaceae plant mainly found in Northwest China, including Xinjiang Province, Qinghai Province, Ningxia Province, Gansu Province and other provinces. Wolfberry has a long history in China and has been used for medicine and functional food, and it is listed in the Traditional Chinese Pharmacopeia (TCP) (Amagase & Farnsworth, 2011; Lu et al, 2014). Wolfberry, as a kind of food with great health benefits, is loved by consumers in China and Southeast Asia and consumed in European and American markets, which is expanding year by year (Potterat, 2010). Due to its high sugar content, wolfberry is vulnerable to aphids, psyllids, gall mites and other pests and susceptible to root rot, anthracnose and powdery mildew (Chawla et al, 2017)

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