Collisionally activated decomposition mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry determination of organophosphorus pesticide residues in foods.

Representative collisionally activated decomposition mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry spectra of omethoate, parathion, and azinphos-methyl pesticides are described. Crude and cleaned up extracts of strawberries or lettuce fortified at the 0.2 ppm level with omethoate, parathion, and azinphos-methyl were examined using the direct exposure probe. Cleaned up extracts produced better data because the large overburden of interfering coextractives was removed.

Comparison of methodology for determination of ethylene dibromide in grains and grain-based foods.

Three commonly used methods for determination of ethylene dibromide (EDB) in grains and grain products have been compared. EDB residues were extracted by soaking in hexane, triple co-distillation with hexane from an aqueous sample solution, and soaking in acetone-water (5 + 1). Each method was used for triplicate analyses of 12 samples containing incurred residues of EDB ranging from about 10 to 1000 ppb and representing whole grains (wheat and oats) and intermediate grain-based products such as corn meal and flour. The 4-day hexane soaking method extracted the least EDB. In some cases, this was half of the amount determined by the other methods. Levels from soaking in acetone-water were equal to, or up to 25% greater than, those from distillation. Although soaking for 2 days is required for whole grains in the method, a period of only 16 h was found acceptable for ground products. Results were obtained faster with the distillation method, but more analyst time per sample was required. A single distillation recovered about 80% (40-60% from wheat) of total EDB extracted by triple distillation. Foaming was reduced by the addition of concentrated H2SO4 to the aqueous hexane-sample mixture, plus stirring during distillation, thereby allowing complete recovery of the hexane.

Modified Storherr method for determination of organophosphorus pesticides in nonfatty food Total Diet composites.

The method for Storherr et al. for organophosphorus pesticide residues in nonfatty foods has been modified to permit its use in analyzing the composites of nonfatty foods in the Food and Drug Administration Total Diet Program. Modifications were designed to permit the examination by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) of the larger weight (100 mg) of sample equivalent required by the Total Diet Program. To achieve a limit of quantitation of 2 ppb parathion, the organophosphorus pesticides are determined by GLC equipped with flame photometric detector (P-mode) and/or KCL thermionic detector. Recovery data, ranging from 70 to 133%, are presented for fortification (2-10 ppb) of organophosphorus pesticides in 7 nonfatty food Total Diet composites. The modified Storherr method was successfully tested in an intralaboratory method trial of 2 Total Diet composites (potatoes and legumes) fortified at 5-13 ppb with malathion, parathion, paraoxon, and monocrotophos. In addition, the modified Storherr method was compared to existing FDA Total Diet methodology for the determination of incurred organophosphorus residues. Residue levels found by both methods were similar for malathion (30 ppb), parathion (7 ppb), and diazinon (1 ppb), but only the modified Storherr method was capable of determining about 10 ppb dimethoate and phorate in the cereals and grains composite.