CONFIRMS

Contaminant analysis in Food by Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry: towards a generic extraction and screening for pesticides and veterinary drugs

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The presence of potentially hazardous pesticides and veterinary drugs in food remains a major concern among European consumers. It is important to monitor their residues to ensure that they are not found in food at levels presenting an unacceptable risk to humans. A variety of multiresidue analytical methods are used in official routine laboratories to help ensure the safety of food and feed in Europe. However, highly polar analytes cannot be usually included in these methods due to their different physic-chemical characteristics. Also, the number of residues routinely analyzed is limited and data are collected only for those targeted compounds, so other potentially harmful, non-targeted analytes or their metabolites are not detected although being present in the sample. The project’s general main goal will be the development of generic, faster and more cost-efficient multiresidue methods for the extraction and analysis in food samples of a wide range of pesticides and veterinary drugs, both target (focusing on highly polar problematic analytes) and non-target compounds (including metabolites), using state-of-the-art analytical equipment, i.e. liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. These methods will permit more food samples to be monitored due to the lower cost and time per test. In combination with the broadened spectrum of detectable contaminants and the additional safety provided for unexpected residues, the project will significantly increase food safety in Europe. The overall work will be carried out at the “Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry” (LCAP) at the University of Geneva, a long-experienced group in the development of methods for the analysis of drugs and metabolites with modern techniques. As part of collaboration, the developed methods will be transferred to the “Laboratory of Contaminants” at the Food Authority Control (SCAV) of Geneva in order to routinely implement them as a complement to their own procedures.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The presence of potentially hazardous polar and non-target pesticides and veterinary drugs in food needs to be monitored to ensure their residues are not at levels that present a risk. However, highly polar analytes cannot usually be included in the official laboratory multi-residue methods that, in addition, only collect data for targeted compounds.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The use of pesticides and veterinary drugs has changed through time, going from more persistent to more polar, readily degradable products. Due to their different physicochemical characteristics, these highly polar analytes, need specific analytical methods. Besides, the current existing methods only collect data for targeted compounds, so other potentially harmful, non-targeted analytes are not detected, although they can be present in the sample. These challenges were addressed by the CONFIRMS project, which developed procedures for analysing highly polar and non-target contaminants in food samples by liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to different mass spectrometry (MS) detectors.

Different kinds of contaminants were selected for target analysis, among them, fourteen aminoglycosides (AGs), an important family of highly polar antibiotics, and very polar pesticides. Both groups of highly polar contaminants were analysed with Obelisc R, a zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) stationary phase. AGs were extracted from liver, milk and honey samples with an acidic mixture and polymeric weak cation exchange solid phase extraction (SPE) and the procedure was validated. Very polar pesticides were extracted from fruits and vegetables with acidic methanol and cleaned with dispersive SPE to increase the sensitivity of the MS detector. Another family of contaminants, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), were also included in the project due to the extensive findings of their residues on foodstuffs. They were extracted from plants with the buffered QuEChERS version (AOAC 2007.01) without clean-up. The procedure was validated and five quantification methods were compared to compensate matrix effects being the most accurate the non-linear standard addition method. Project work also included training for the non-target analysis of water samples and their post-target processing.

Presentations at three international conferences showed chemists, veterinarians and legislators how the techniques developed by CONFIRMS can be used to control problematic highly polar analytes. CONFIRMS successfully developed procedures for three families of highly polar pesticides and veterinary drugs in food that were directly implemented in an official routine laboratory in target and non-target approaches.