Quantitative analysis of 764 pesticides in tomato by LC/MS/MS

In Europe, pesticide testing laboratories adhere to the SANTE/ 11312/2021 Guideline. This Guideline ensures a consistent approach controlling the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) legally permitted in food or animal feed. Due to the huge number of pesticides of concern, the analysis can be very elaborate, often requiring multiple analytical approaches and laboratory intensive workflows, resulting in high operating costs and slow turn-around times.

In this presentation we describe a comprehensive verified triple quadrupole LC/MS/MS workflow for the simultaneous quantitation of 764 pesticides in tomato adhering to the to SANTE 11312/2021 guidelines. Analytical parameters including limit of detection, linearity, recovery, and precision were evaluated and details of the universal sample preparation procedure and workflow instrumentation configuration will be discussed.

What you will learn

1. How dynamic MRM scheduling allows 764 pesticides to be determined in a single LC/MS/MS run

2. How sample preparation can influence quantitation results

3. How sample preparation, analytical instrumentation and data processing software increases the efficiency of wide-scope pesticide analysis

Presenter: Peter Kornas (Peter Kornas, Agilent Technologies, Waldbronn, Germany, Agilent Technologies)

Peter Kornas has over a decade of experience in the field of development and validation of analytical methods for pesticide, mycotoxin and contaminant analysis using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Prior to joining Agilent Technologies as an LC/MS Application Engineer in 2018, he worked as analytical chemist in the food industry working in close cooperation with regulatory affairs to guarantee the fulfillment of legal requirements.