Validation of short run time LC-ESI (+) MS/MS method for determination of twenty recommended pesticide residues in food based on QuEChERS extraction technique

Food is expected to contain pesticide residues that might have many problems due to their toxicities for human and animals. So, it is very important to detect and quantify the pesticides contamination levels to increase food safety for the human. The target of our study is to analyse a 20 new pesticides including different pesticide classes such as 1 acaricide, 3 fungicides, 2 plant growth regulators, 11 herbicides, 1 insecticide, 1 rodenticide, and 1 metabolite which were selected according to their modern application in the Egyptian agriculture as well as the recommendation of the Egyptian Agriculture Pesticides Committee (APC). The research is focused on the method validation for the routine analysis of the targeted pesticide residues according to the European SANTE/11,813/2017 guideline. The validation was carried out by fortifying of three levels at 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg in four blank matrices: apple, green beans, fennel seeds and rice which represent different classes of food. The most common citrate buffered QuEChERS extraction method and liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) device were used. The mass spectrometer was operated in the positive electrospray ionisation ESI (+) mode and the non-scheduled multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) method in a short run time of 16.0 min. The limits of quantifications (LOQs) for all pesticides ranged between 0.01 and 0.05 mg/kg. Good linearity of the method was in the concentration range 0.001–0.5 μg/ml with acceptable correlation coefficients (r²) ≥ 0.99 for all analytes. The average recoveries for all the target pesticide residues were in the range of 70–120% with relative standard deviations RSDs ≤ 20%. The matrix effect was compensated by using the standard addition method. This short run time LC ESI (+) MS/MS Method may help laboratories which deal with the routine pesticide residues analysis in different food samples.