Pesticide Residue Determination by Gas Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry as Applied to Food Safety Assessment on the Example of Some Fruiting Vegetables

Abstract

A multiresidue method for the analysis of over 140 multiclass pesticides in fruiting vegetables, based on quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) sample preparation procedure followed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), was established. In the validation study, the overall recoveries from spiked samples were 102 ± 7, 95 ± 7, and 95 ± 7 % with RSD values of 7 ± 3, 7 ± 4, and 7 ± 3 % at the spiking levels of 0.01, 0.05, and 0.5 mg kg−1, respectively, demonstrating fitness for purpose of the method. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.01 mg kg−1 for more than 90 % of the target compounds. The analysis of over 300 samples of tomatoes, sweet peppers, and cucumbers was carried out in 2006–2014. Of these samples, 52 % contained pesticide residues but the results of the assessment of dietary exposure supported the conclusion that the presence of pesticide residues was unlikely to have a negative effect on the health of consumers. Although some of the pesticides detected in years 2006–2009 are no longer approved in the European Union member countries (namely endosulfan, oxadixyl, procymidone, propargite, and tolylfluanid), the consumer dietary exposure was low and did not exceed 12 % of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) considering both adults’ and children’s diet. Regarding short-term exposure (acute), in only one case of procymidone in sweet pepper, the acute reference dose (ARfD) for children was exceeded by 139.6 % of the ARfD.