Vortex and Ultrasound-Assisted Surfactant-Enhanced Emulsification Microextraction for the Determination of Pesticide Residues in Honey using Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A novel sample pre-treatment technique based on vortex and ultrasound-assisted surfactant-enhanced emulsification microextraction followed by gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric detection has been developed to determine the selected pesticide residues in honey samples. The key parameters which have affected extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. Under optimal conditions, the extraction recovery was 90–101% and the enrichment factors were 173–191. The concentration ranges of detection and quantification limits were from 0.03 to 0.9 ng/g and from 0.1 to 3 ng/g, respectively, in honey samples. The relative standard deviation was <5% for intra-day (n = 6) and <8% for inter-day precision (n = 4). Target pesticides were observed in 25% of the samples. The results of this study showed that the residues of such pesticides as bifenthrin, fenpyroximate and thiamethoxam were more than the maximum amount in some honey samples, which causes serious harm to human health.