Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in the Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Food

Abstract

The analysis of pesticide residues in food is nowadays an increasingly important task. Quality control has to be very strict in order to safeguard the consumers' health. One of the most important goals of food quality assurance is testing food for residues and contaminants. Among chemical hazards, the contamination of food with pesticides has been characterized as a significant source of many serious diseases. Consumption of food containing pesticide residues may cause cancer, malformations, and damage to the endocrine, nervous, and immune system. In order to assure human food safety, The European Community has established maximum residue limits (MRL) of pesticides permitted in products of animal or vegetable origin that are intended for human consumption. In the EU, Regulation (EC) No. 396/2005 of the European Parliament and Council on pesticide residues established the levels of pesticide residues allowed in food and feed. To ensure the compliance of marketed food commodities with the law on food safety, sensitive and reliable analytical methods for the determination of pesticide residues are required. Multiresidue liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods (LC-MS) are widely recognized as an ideal, highly specific, and extremely sensitive technique for testing food products. This review discusses LC-MS approaches applied most widely to pesticide residue analysis over the last few years. The main ionization methods and MS detectors used as analytical tools in quantification and/or identification/confirmation of pesticide residues in food are presented.

Identification and quantification of some pesticide metabolites from vegetables by GC-TOF-MS and LC-MS-QQQ

“…Nowadays, a high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a QQQ tandem mass spectrometer, working in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, is the most frequently platform used in the analysis of pesticide residues in food [18].…”

“…Also, sensitive and reliable analytical methods for the determination of pesticide residues are required to ensure the compliance of marketed food commodities with the law on food safety [18]. The proposed methods allow the extensive investigation of previously undetectable or unknown pesticide metabolites in vegetables.…”

Review on Extraction Procedures and Chromatographic Techniques for Analysis of Multiple Pesticides Residues in Honey

“…Among ion sources electron spray ionization(ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization(APCI) (Blasco, Fernán-dez et al 2004) are mostly used, these both are based on atmospheric pressure ionization. For the determination of multiresidue in honey following analyzers are in common use; (i)ion trap mass analyzer (IT) (Zacharis, Rotsias et al 2012) (ii) time of flight (ToF) (Barganska, Olkowska et al 2014) (iii) quadropole (Stachniuk and Fornal 2016). Single quadropole analyzer has less separation efficiency not exceeding 3000 now replaced by triple quadropole analyzer.…”

“…its Separation efficiency exceeds 40,000 while the separation efficiency and m/z range of the IT is similar to that of a typical quadropole. (Stachniuk and Fornal 2016). There are different MS techniques on the basis of arrangement/ combination of analyzers.…”

“…It has certain types on the basis of kind of analyzers (a) triple quadropole system (QQQ) (b) quadruple-time-of-flight (Q-TOF) (c) quadruple-linear-ion-trap (Q-Trap). Amongst three ,triple quadruple tandem mass spectrometry is most popular due it's higher separation efficiency ,higher selectivity and sensitivity (Stachniuk and Fornal 2016). Though gas chromatography is widely used technique with variable detectors but it is only suitable for volatile and less polar compounds or for the compounds which are amenable to derivatization to ensure the volatile properties.…”