Trace analysis of three fungicides in animal origin foods with a modified QuEChERS method and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Significance Statement

Most people ignore the risk of pesticide residues in biological materials of animal origin, which makes people more vulnerable to some potential epidemics. However, plant materials, such as straws, grains and leaves, which used for feeding livestock may be contaminated, and, consequently, pesticides may be consumed by humans via animal feed. Due to the lipophilic nature of some pesticides, they are accumulated in milk, meat or animal offal and enter the human body through the food chain, and then may cause serious health problems. Increasing attention has been paid to the risks posed to consumers by pesticide residues in animal foods. However, as far as we know, few articles referred to the pesticide detection in animal origin foods. Amongst commercial pesticides, propiconazole , pyraclostrobin and isopyrazam , three of most widely used fungicides in the world, deserves special attention because of its high effectiveness against diseases affecting cereals, fruits, and vegetables. The key of our study is to use the same method to achieve simultaneous detection for the three fungicides in seven animal origin foods, which will save labor, time and cost significantly and make it more suitable for the detection of large-scale real samples.

Trace analysis of three fungicides in animal origin foods with a modified QuEChERS method and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Global Medical Discovery

Journal Reference

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2016 Feb;408(5):1515-22.

Mu Z1, Feng X1, Zhang Y1, Zhang H2.

[expand title=”Show Affiliations”]
  1. College of Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
  2. College of Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China. [email protected].
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Abstract

A multi-residue method based on modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) sample preparation, followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), was developed and validated for the determination of three selected fungicides (propiconazole, pyraclostrobin, and isopyrazam) in seven animal origin foods. The overall recoveries at the three spiking levels of 0.005, 0.05, and 0.5 mg kg(-1) spanned between 72.3 and 101.4 % with relative standard deviation (RSD) values between 0.7 and 14.9 %. The method shows good linearity in the concentrations between 0.001 and 1 mg L(-1) with the coefficient of determination (R (2)) value >0.99 for each target analyte. The limit of detections (LODs) for target analytes were between 0.04 and 1.26 μg kg(-1), and the limit of quantifications (LOQs) were between 0.13 and 4.20 μg kg(-1). The matrix effect for each individual compound was evaluated through the study of ratios of the areas obtained in solvent and matrix standards. The optimized method provided a negligible matrix effect for propiconazole within 20 %, whereas for pyraclostrobin and isopyrazam, the matrix effect was relatively significant with a maximum value of 49.8 %. The developed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of 210 animal origin samples obtained from 16 provinces of China. The results suggested that the developed method was satisfactory for trace analysis of three fungicides  in animal  origin foods. Graphical abstract Schematic representation of the proposed residue analytical  method for  animal  origin foods using  QuEChERS and LC-MS/MS.

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