Assessment of pesticide residues in fresh peach samples produced under integrated crop management in an agricultural region of northern Greece

Abstract

A multi-residue method using selected ion monitoring mode GC/MS has been developed for the quantitative analysis of residue levels of 23 widely used pesticides in fresh peaches produced under integrated crop management process (ICM). The proposed methodology involved a sample extraction procedure using liquid–liquid partition with acetonitrile followed by a clean-up step based on solid-phase extraction (SPE). Fortification studies were performed at different concentration levels for various types of peaches that differ in properties, such as appearance, flavor and pit. The data showed that the different peach matrices had no significant effect on recoveries. Recoveries were greater than 80% for most of the pesticides with a RSD below 18%. The limits of quantification (LOQs) were in the range 0.002–0.050 mg kg⁻¹, depending on the compound. To assess method performance with real samples and determine whether pesticide concentrations in peaches exceed their maximum residue levels (MRLs), the proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of 104 fruit samples collected under integrated pest management (IPM) production during the 2006 cultivation period. Residues detected were lower than those established by legislation for all pesticides, except diazinon, where one positive sample was detected at a level of 0.03 mg kg⁻¹.

Keywords:

• chromatography
• GC/MS
• extraction
• risk assessment
• pesticide residues
• fruit