High-throughput determination of pesticide residues in food commodities by use of ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid, simple, and sensitive multiresidue method for analysis of 53 pesticides in fruit and vegetables by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) has been developed and validated. Prior to analysis, analytes were extracted by use of buffered QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, safe) methodology without further cleanup for non fatty matrices. Chromatographic conditions were optimised in order to achieve a fast separation in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Indeed, more than 50 pesticides can be separated in less then 10 min. Four common representative matrices (cucumber, orange, strawberry, and olive) were selected to investigate the effect of different matrices on recovery and precision. Mean recoveries ranged from 70 to 109% with relative standard deviations lower than 20% for all the pesticides assayed in the four selected matrices. The method has been applied to the analysis of 200 vegetable samples, and imidacloprid was the pesticide most frequently found, with concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 1.00 mg kg(-1). This methodology combines the advantages of both QuEChERS and UPLC-MS-MS producing a very rapid, sensitive, and reliable procedure which can be applied in routine analytical laboratories.