Development of the Food and Drug Administration's method of analysis for multiple residues of organochlorine pesticides in foods and feeds.

Abstract

A method of analysis adequate for the detection and measurement of the appropriate amount of pesticide residues in food products must be available before tolerances are established for those residues in and on food products by the Food and Drug Administration. In most instances the method available at the time the tolerance is established is an individual procedure for one specific chemical. Such methods are useful when it is necessary to analyze food products for those specific chemicals. It became obvious a number of years ago that it was impossible to monitor the levels of pesticides in the general food supply effectively and meaningfully by these individual methods. Since the spray history of a given commodity is generally unknown, the chemist does not know which methods to apply; it is economically and physically impractical to apply a large number of individual methods for all the significant chemical residues that may be present. In addition many pesticide compounds are acted upon by light and air or enzyme systems within plants and animals to produce alteration products which may be significant residues; seldom do individual methods determine these alteration products. On the other hand, the multiresidue methods described later do determine many significant alteration products. It was decided that the only reasonable approach to monitoring the food supply was to simplify analyses by developing methods which measure more than one chemical at a time. An ideal method of analysis would be one which detected and quantitatively measured all of the parent and significant alteration products simultaneously.