Multiresidue Determination of Pesticide Residues in Honey by Modified QuEChERS Method and Gas Chromatography with Electron Capture Detection

Débora Orso,Tiele M Rizzetti,Martha B Adaime,Filipe F Donato,Renato Zanella,Manoel L Martins,Magali Kemmerich

doi:10.5935/0103-5053.20140117

Abstract

Honey can present pesticide residues due to the contamination of bees during the collection of pollen and nectar or by treatment of hives. Thus, the determination of pesticide residues in honey is of great importance, despite the difficulty due to the complexity of the matrix. In this study a new method for the determination of pesticides from different chemical groups in honey was developed and validated. Honey samples were extracted by modified QuEChERS method and analyzed by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-ECD). Recovery results, evaluated at three spike levels, were between 71 and 119% for most of the compounds, with relative standard deviation (RSD) < 20%. The proposed method enables the determination at limits of detection between 3 and 6 µg kg-1, combining effective extraction and clean-up steps with good sensitivity and selectivity, and was successfully applied to the analysis of commercial honey samples.

Highlights

The analysis of pesticide residues in honey is a considerable analytical challenge, since honey is a mixture of over 300 substances identified mainly as sugars and waxes, subject to variations arising from the type of plant where bees collect nectar from.[1]
This paper describes an effective multiresidue method using a modified QuEChERS method for the extraction of pesticide residues from honey samples, including a cleanup step to remove mainly waxes, sugars and pigments, with determination by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-ECD)
Pesticide residue determination in honey samples by GC presents challenging analytical problems because of their high sugar content, typically 77% (m/m) of fructose + glucose,[31] that is transferred to the extracts

Summary

Introduction

The analysis of pesticide residues in honey is a considerable analytical challenge, since honey is a mixture of over 300 substances identified mainly as sugars and waxes, subject to variations arising from the type of plant where bees collect nectar from.[1]. According to the Council Directive 2001/110/EC,[3] honey is considered a viscous, aromatic, natural and sweet fluid produced by Apis mellifera bees[4,5] from nectar of flowers or secretions of live parts of certain plants or excretions of insects. It has been used in medicine since remote times for treatment of burns, gastrointestinal disorders, asthma, infected wounds and skin ulcers.[6] World production of honey showed a growing trend in the last 20 years attributed to an expansion in the number of hives and production per colony.[7]. Every day 10,000 to Multiresidue Determination of Pesticide Residues in Honey by Modified QuEChERS Method

Methods

Results

Conclusion