Pesticides in rice-based products commercialised in Argentina

ABSTRACT

People with coeliac disease have a limited diet. Therefore, rice-based products are an ideal alternative. Highlighting this import item, an analytical methodology was validated to determine pesticides in rice-based product samples. The precision was satisfactory for all pesticides since the RSD did not exceed 13% in any case. Regarding recovery, the method had values close to 100%. The limit of quantification was established at 10 µg/kg and the expanded uncertainty was less than 20%. After validation, 80 samples of toasts and rice crackers were analysed. All samples were compliant with the national regulations for dichlorvos and tebuconazole. The pesticide that was present in the highest number of samples was pirimiphos – methyl, but all below the maximum residue limit. From all samples analysed, 38 were positive for at least one pesticide and only one contained four pesticides simultaneously: deltamethrin, pirimiphos-methyl, kresoxim-methyl and epoxiconazole.

KEYWORDS:

• Rice-based products
• method validation
• pesticides
• QuEChERS
• GC/MS

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos de Entre Ríos, Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires and Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Raw data were generated at Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.