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

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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.

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Acknowledgments

Skillful assistance of laboratory technical staff is greatly appreciated.

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Funding

This work was supported in part by Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego (Ministry of Science and Higher Education), project IDs POZ-03 and POZ-07.

Conflict of Interest

Stanisław Walorczyk declares that he has no conflict of interest. Izabela Kopeć declares that she has no conflict of interest. Ewa Szpyrka declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Protection—National Research Institute, Władysława Węgorka 20, 60-318, Poznań, Poland

    Stanisław Walorczyk & Izabela Kopeć

  2. Regional Experimental Station in Rzeszów, Institute of Plant Protection—National Research Institute, Langiewicza 28, 35-101, Rzeszów, Poland

    Ewa Szpyrka

Authors
  1. Stanisław Walorczyk
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  2. Izabela Kopeć
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  3. Ewa Szpyrka
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Correspondence to Stanisław Walorczyk.

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Walorczyk, S., Kopeć, I. & Szpyrka, E. Pesticide Residue Determination by Gas Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry as Applied to Food Safety Assessment on the Example of Some Fruiting Vegetables. Food Anal. Methods 9, 1155–1172 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-015-0292-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-015-0292-6

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