Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Background. The extensive use of carbamate pesticides in agriculture has increased serious public concern regarding the environment and food safety. Carbamate pesticides have been reported to cause deleterious effects on the immune system and fertility issues in both humans and animals. A liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of carbamate residues in vegetables has been developed and validated with quantification levels respecting the action levels established for the maximum residue limits (MRL) according to the European Union, World Health Organization (WHO), and Vietnam.
Materials and methods. In the proposed method, the pretreatment protocol was shortened to reduce time, and chemical usage was also minimized to decrease cost. The validation was performed according to the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/808, which includes linearity, limits of detection (LOD), limits of quantification (LOQ), recovery, and repeatability.
Results. Based on the LC-MS/MS experiments, the matrix-matched calibration method showed good performance in the concentration from 5 to 200 μg/kg for vegetable samples, with a correlation coefficient of R2 value of > 0.996. The limits of quantification for all carbamate pesticides were 5 μg/kg. Recoveries of all carbamate pesticides were from 91 to 109% and repeatabilities (RSD) were < 10%.
Conclusion. The validation data indicate the developed LC/MS/MS method is suitable for the determination of carbamate pesticides in vegetables.