Pesticide residue analysis in different spice samples by automatic µSPE clean-up workflow determination using LC-MS/MS.

Abstract

Spices such as paprika, curry, turmeric, dry chilli, and black pepper are grown in various geographic locations and widely used by consumers across the world. Pesticides applied during crop production practices could contaminate the produce, affecting the quality and posing ahealth risk for consumers. The complexity of thespice matrix and the wide range of target pesticides potentially present require special sample extraction and clean-up treatments to overcome matrix interference and ion suppression. In this study, sample extracts from spice matrices (paprika/curry/turmeric/dry chilli/black pepper) were cleaned up by anautomated µSPE clean-up method for multi-residue analysis of pesticides using LC-MS/MS. The automated µSPE clean-up method involves pre-filled cartridges containing varioussorbent materialssuitable for numerous co-extractives and the automated clean-up process was carried out using an autosampler. The regulatory limit for pesticides in spices varies with type, witha low MRL of 0.05 mg kg-1 or higher for 99% of the analytes. At spiking concentrations of 0.05 and 0.1 mg kg-1, good recoveries between 70 and 120% with RSD values below 20% were achieved for more than 98% of the compounds. With automatic clean-up of samples that takes 5 min/sample, 20% increased output per day shows animportant advantage achieved compared to manual clean-up.