MONITORING RESIDUES OF AGROCHEMICALS IN COMMERCIAL DRIED HERBS USING GC-MS-SIM

Abstract

Dried herbs presents several chemical compounds that are precursor of pleasant aroma, which justifies its use in cooking. However, as in every agricultural product, they are subject to have agrochemical residue contamination. International Codex Alimentarius is the responsible for regulation, standardization and establishment of maximum residue limits allowed in each culture, and in Brazil, ANVISA is responsible for this regulation. The aim of this work was to develop and validate a method to monitor the agrochemicals aldrin, dicofol, dieldrin, and methidathion in basil, rosemary, oregano, fennel, bay leaf and clove dried herbs, using solid phase extraction and GC-MS-SIM. The method was validated according to the selectivity, linearity, accuracy, intermediate precision, limit of detection and quantification parameters. Accuracy results were higher than 90 % for all agrochemicals; intermediate precision assessed as RSD, ranged from 2.4 to 3.1 %; detection of limit and quantification of limit were between 0.21 to 1.65 mg L-1 and 0.62 to 5.00 mg L-1, respectively. Validated parameters were within acceptable values for ANVISA. The developed method was applied to 34 commercial samples of dried herbs, and any of the agrochemicals studied were detected or quantified in these samples.