LC-MS/MS Determination of Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

Abstract

A proper diet is commonly regarded as one of the most important factors determining one’s health. A key role in such a diet is played by unprocessed food of plant origin, mainly fruits and vegetables, as they contain many important dietary bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, carotenoids, fiber, antioxidants, several important vitamins, and minerals. Despite the nutritional benefit, they may also contain substances that adversely affect human health. Pesticides constitute a special group of contaminants as even small amounts of these substances can result in acute poisoning, lead to cancer, and have an adverse impact on the endocrine, immune, and nervous system. A considerable number of pesticides have a harmful effect already in low concentrations, within the range of μg kg−1 and below μg kg−1; hence, there is a great need for identifying and determining them by means of highly selective and sensitive methods. In the analysis of pesticide residue, similarly to the analysis of other food contaminants, there is a clear tendency to prepare multiresidue methods that enable monitoring a large number of compounds in a great number and variety of samples. Most multiresidue methods reported for fruits and vegetables in the last decade are based mostly on the use of liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), which is the technique of choice for the majority of pesticides and their metabolites nowadays.