Multiresidue analysis of organophosphorus pesticides in fruits and vegetables by GC-NPD

This study reports the levels of 16 organophosphorus pesticide residues (OPP’s) in fruits (papaya, mausami, banana, pomegranate and grapes) and vegetables (tomato, okra, cauliflower, brinjal and cabbage) of Lucknow city, India. The estimation of OPP’s was done adopting a multiresidue analytical technique QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) employing GC-NPD system with capillary column. This method effectively remove pigment in fruits and vegetables samples using activated charcoal with primary secondary amine (PSA) followed cleanup through dispersive solid phase extraction(d-SPE) to further reduce matrix interference and contamination. Recoveries of the fortified pesticides in all samples ranged 73.4 - 86.9 % with relative standard deviations (% RSD) below 15% for most target analytes. In vegetables and fruits samples ? OPP’s ranged between 0.010-0.381 mg kg-1. Dichlorvos, phorate, chlopyrifos, chlorofenvinfos, malathion, profenofos and chloropyrifos methyl were detected in the present study which were well below maximum residue limit (MRL) (PFA-1954). Dimethoate , diazinon, methyl parathion, phorate sulfone, phorate sulfoxide, fenitrothion, ethion, edifenophos and phosalone were not detected in all the collected samples.