Evaluation of pesticide residue in grape juices and the effect of natural antioxidants on their degradation rate

Various studies have been drawn toward the beneficial properties of fruit juices because they have several components, such as phenols, vitamins, and flavonoids, with antioxidant effects. However, fruit juices can also contain residues of pesticides used as standard pest control methods in crops. Many of these pesticides are degraded through oxidative mechanisms, and their persistence in juices can be enhanced by antioxidants. This study covers the degradation of four pesticides, aldicarb, demeton-S-methyl, fenamipbos, and methiocarb, to their respective sulfoxide and sulfone in grape juices, water (pH 3.5) and water (pH 3.5) with quercetin (one of the most important flavonoids of grape) added in an attempt to establish whether the presence of antioxidants can affect the degradation rate of pesticides. For this purpose, a multi-residue method based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) was developed for the simultaneous determination of these pesticides and their metabolites in commercial juices. The extraction procedure was carried out in C-18 columns. The subsequent elution of pesticides was performed with dichloromethane prior to the determination by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), using two precursor-pro duct ion transitions. Average recoveries for all the pesticides studied were higher than 80%, with relative standard deviations lower than 15% in the concentration range 0.005-0.05 mu g/mL, and the quantification limits achieved ranged from 0.1 to 4.6 mu g/L. The results demonstrated that degradation was slower in fruit juices and aqueous solutions with quercetin than in water. Several commercial grape juices were also analyzed to establish the levels of these pesticides. Methiocarb, fenamiphos, and demeton-S-methyl were found at low levels in some samples.