As agricultural trade grows and food safety concerns mount, stricter pesticide regulations are being enforced around the world. Increased pesticide testing and reductions in maximum permissible residue levels have driven demand for fast, sensitive and cost-effective analytical methods for high-throughput screening of multi-class pesticides in food. Detection of 510 pesticides at low ppb levels was achieved within 12 minutes using the Thermo Scientific Exactive benchtop LC/MS system powered by Orbitrap technology.
We describe a method to analyze large numbers of pesticides in a single run on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer using TraceFinder software with built-in workflows for streamlining method development and routine analysis.
In this study, a fast, easy, and robust workflow was used to analyze pesticide residues in baby food. Accurate and sensitive detection, quantification, and identification of pesticides in baby foods is of particular importance because babies are more vulnerable to adverse health effects from these chemicals.