No abstract

The modified QuEChERS method was evaluated for rapid determination of pesticide residues in spinach by gas chromatography-nitrogen phosphorous detector (NPD) and electron capture detector (ECD). Fifty GC-amenable pesticides which were most frequently detected in monitoring were selected in the current study. Matrix-matched calibration was performed. The detector response for all pesticides was linear with determination coefficients higher than 0.995. LODs for most compounds ranged between 0.001 and 0.1 ug/g, and about 90% of the compounds had LODs of less than 0.05 ug/g. LOQs ranged from 0.001 to 0.32 ug/g, which were well below the MRLs permitted for most of pesticides. In the majority of cases, the recoveries (80-120%) and relative standard deviations (RSDs) (less than 20%) were within acceptable levels except for dichlorvos, propamocarb, chlorothalonil, dichlofluanid, cyhalothrin and fenvalerate. Also, this method which is applied to routine samples showed good results when comparing with traditional multi-residue method.