Abstract
Even though paraquat is considered to be one of the most toxic herbicides, it is one of the most used ones. Paraquat-based preparations are heavily used across many important agricultural countries and for a lot of types of crops such as soya. As soya is used in large quantities in the feed production, paraquat residues in soya products are a potential threat to livestock. The aim of this study was to investigate whether soya products intended for animal feed contain residues of paraquat. Therefore, an optimized Quick Polar Pesticides (QuPPe) Method was developed. In total, 174 samples were analyzed via LC-MS/MS using zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (ZIC-HILIC). The results showed that paraquat was detected in 66 % of the samples above 0.008 mg/kg. Residues were mainly present in soya bean meals that were imported from Brazil or the USA and cultivated using genetically modified soya. Around 5 % of the samples were not compliant with the European regulation on maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed. The results of this study support the view that paraquat residues play a significant role in soya products intended for animal feed and, thus, need to be controlled on a regular basis. However, for enforcement actions reliable processing factors for paraquat in soya products or maximum residue levels for processed soya products are urgently required.
Highlights
Paraquat is widely considered to be one of the most toxic herbicides currently used
Modifications to the Quick Polar Pesticides (QuPPe)-Method As mentioned in the section Materials and Methods, modifications were made to the QuPPe-Method because process efficiencies and matrix interferences varied considerably and unsystematically between various soya bean meal samples when using the standard method protocol
Water has not been added to the sample homogenate (10 mL of water is typically given to 5 g of sample) because, for some tested soya bean meals, the extraction efficiencies turned out to be up to 55 % lower when water was added
Summary
Paraquat is widely considered to be one of the most toxic herbicides currently used. It has been shown that the presence of paraquat can cause harmful effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Babatunde et al, 2001; Leboulanger et al, 2009; Muangphra et al, 2014) and human health (Wesseling et al, 2001; Tanner et al, 2011). It has been reported that chronic paraquat exposure might contribute to the development of Parkinson’s disease in humans (DinisOliveira et al, 2006; Costello et al, 2009; Tanner et al., 2011). It is still one of the best-selling herbicides worldwide used for a huge variety of crops, including maize, rice and soya beans (Syngenta Crop Protection AG, 2019). Paraquat is known for its very effective and fast-acting behavior in killing weeds It may be used as a desiccant to hasten maturity of a crop to prepone the harvest date (Boudreaux and Griffin, 2011). Paraquat is still authorized and extensively used across many important agricultural countries, including the USA and Brazil (Syngenta Crop Protection AG, 2019)
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