Dissipation behavior, residue transfer, and safety evaluation of chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb during tea growing and brewing by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Abstract

A reliable and simple analytical method was developed and validated to simultaneously determine chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb in tea using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The average recoveries of chlorantraniliprole were in the range of 86-110%, with the precision of intraday (n = 5) and interday (n = 15) ranging from 1.9 to 8.4% and from 2.4 to 8.8%, respectively. The average recoveries of indoxacarb were in the range 81-105%, with the precision of intraday (n = 5) and interday (n = 15) ranging from 2.0 to 9.8% and from 2.7 to 9.1%, respectively. The limits of quantification (LOQs) were all 0.01mg/kg. The results based on the supervised field trials showed that chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb in two tea samples followed first-order kinetics models with half-lives of 2.2-4.7days and 2.5-3.5days, which could be regarded as a moderately degrading pesticide. The terminal residues of chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb in made tea were below 6.7 and 4.5mg/kg, respectively, lower than their corresponding maximum residue limits (MRLs) established by several major countries and organizations (50 and 5mg/kg). The leaching rates of chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb during the tea brewing ranged from 4.78 to 12.62% and 4.13 to 10.67%, respectively. The chronic intake risk quotient (RQc) values for chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb were 0.24% and 35.10%, while the acute dietary risk assessment (RQa) value of indoxacarb was 5.8%, which were all much lower than 100%. The results in the present study indicated that the health risk posed by the chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb mixture pesticides was negligible in tea for consumers at the recommended dosages.