To protect consumers from exposure to unacceptable levels of pesticide residues, Guidance Residue Levels (GRLs) of 120 agrochemicals in tobacco have been issued by CORESTA. Sensitive and selective multi-residue analytical methods are needed to satisfy the demand for monitoring pesticide residues in tobacco. A reliable and rapid GC-MS/MS multi-residue method for the simultaneous analysis of 166 pesticides in tobacco was developed and validated using a QuEChERS based extraction procedure. Average recoveries of all of the compounds in tobacco were in the range of 69-141% with relative standard deviations of 2-28% at three fortification levels. The limits of quantification ranged from 0.005 to 0.05 �g/g. These values were within the acceptable range for trace residue analysis for demonstration of compliance with GRLs. The validated method was successfully applied to the analysis of 93 tobacco samples, and 22 pesticides were detected. The method greatly improved the detection performance and the range of the pesticide residues.

Development and validation of a QuEChERS based gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of 166 pesticide residues in tobacco

248th National Meeting (2014)

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