Determination of Insecticide Residues in Vegetal Fruits

Abstract

Pesticides compounds represent an important class of pollutants for food, soil and surface water resources. Thus, a simplified method using gas chromatography was used for determining five insecticide residues in fruit samples produced in Ceará State (Brazil). The insecticides were simultaneously extracted from the fruit samples with a mixture of water-methanol (1 : 1% v/v) from lipid-containing crops and then reextracted with ethyl acetate. Cleanup by silica gel column chromatography was not necessary. The extracts were analyzed by GC-ECD. Analytical parameters, such as limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), linearity, precision, and recovery were considered for the orange fruit. A sufficient recovery of 52.1, 57.0, 49.5, and 108.5% for parathion methyl, malathion, chlorpyrifos, and 2,4-dichlorophenol was found. The compounds 2,4-dichlorophenol, malathion, parathion methyl, and chlorpyrifos were found in all the fruit samples analyzed.