MONITORING OF ORGANOPHOSPHOROUS PESTICIDE RESDUES IN SAMPLES OF BANANA, PAPAYA, AND BELL PEPPER

The objective of this study was to monitor 11 organophosphorus pesticides in samples of papaya, bell pepper, and banana, commercialized in the metropolitan area of Vitória (ES, Brazil). The pesticides were determined by an optimized and validated method using high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). All three samples exhibited a matrix effect for most of the pesticides, mainly with signal suppression, and therefore the calibration curves were produced in matrices. Linearity revealed coefficients of determination (r2) greater than 0.9895 for all pesticides and recovery results ranged from between 76% and 118% with standard deviation no greater than 16%. Precision showed relative standard deviation values lower than 19% and HorRat values lower than 0.7, considering all pesticides. Limits of quantification were less than 0.01 mg/kg for all pesticides. Regarding analysis of the samples (50 of each), none of the pesticides exceeded the maximum residue limit determined by Brazilian legislation.