In recent years, consumers influence in the manufacture and retailing of food and drinks products has been increasing. Expecting safe foods, nutrition, quality and value for money in the products they eat and drink, consumers want to know the origin of what they choose. In addition, environmental issues including pollution, packaging, waste and pesticide residues (one of the critical areas related to food safety is the over-use of agrochemicals) are all areas of concern, and required new approaches for their management. Food production is a complex structure and, therefore, a systematic approach is needed to identify potential hazards at each point in the food chain, to avoid outbreaks of food-borne illness and contamination of foodstuffs. Food-borne exposure to agricultural and environmental chemicals is of great public concern and, owing to the development of sensitive methods of detection, trace amounts of potentially harmful chemicals can be detected in many foods. Fortunately, the levels of human exposure to these chemicals are generally well below the tolerable daily intakes and the regulatory limits set by international committees. Constant surveillance and monitoring in the use of pesticides is therefore very important. At the EU level, intensive action has been taken to rebuild confidence in the European food supply chain by means the publication of a White Paper on Food Safety and the development of a legislation establishing “from farm to table” criteria. If the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture led to increased world food production, residues of these chemicals and their metabolites have resulted in food commodities, water and soil. The persistence of pesticides in the environment is not well understood, yet, while their acute toxicity has been proven in many cases. The way in which governments regulate food safety and environmental protection, including pesticide residue levels, has important implications for international trade. In particular, EU and Italian legislation imposed stringent residue limits for pesticides in foodstuffs to guarantee consumer’s health. Consequently, there is a growing interest from governmental agencies and private laboratories to improve the performances of analytical methods for pesticide residue determination, increasing their efficiency and lowering cost and time of analysis. Sensitive multiresidue methods - enabling the determination of as many pesticides as possible, with the least analytical steps - need therefore to be developed. The aim of this study was to determinate 27 organophosphorus pesticide (OP) residues (at ppb level) in commercial cereals and other products of their grinding. The method foresees a preliminary liquid-liquid extraction followed by a clean-up step using alumina as adsorbent. The determination of OP residues was performed by GC-NPD, while positive samples were confirmed by GC-MS. Due to the complexity of the studied matrices, the cleaning-up step was crucial; in fact this step was necessary to reduce matrix interferences on the chromatographic separation. To remove interfering high molecular weight components (e.g. proteins, lipids, cellulose) from different food samples prior to a chromatographic separation, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is frequently used. In our study a different approach was followed purifying organic extracts on alumina columns. The method was successfully applied to the determination of OP pesticides in 134 cereal samples (wheat, bran, fine bran, maize, flour) collected in different Italian regions. No significant traces of the analyzed pesticides were found in the majority of the samples. In five samples on 134 the presence of pyrimifos methyl and chlorpyrifos at very low level was ascertained.

Determinazione di pesticidi organofosforati nei cereali e prodotti derivati / Chiacchierini, Ernesto; BOCCACCI MARIANI, Maurizio; D'Aiuto, Virginia; Preti, Raffaella; Giannetti, Vanessa. - STAMPA. - 1:(2007), pp. 372-377.

Determinazione di pesticidi organofosforati nei cereali e prodotti derivati

CHIACCHIERINI, Ernesto;BOCCACCI MARIANI, Maurizio;D'AIUTO, VIRGINIA;PRETI, Raffaella;GIANNETTI, Vanessa
2007

Abstract

In recent years, consumers influence in the manufacture and retailing of food and drinks products has been increasing. Expecting safe foods, nutrition, quality and value for money in the products they eat and drink, consumers want to know the origin of what they choose. In addition, environmental issues including pollution, packaging, waste and pesticide residues (one of the critical areas related to food safety is the over-use of agrochemicals) are all areas of concern, and required new approaches for their management. Food production is a complex structure and, therefore, a systematic approach is needed to identify potential hazards at each point in the food chain, to avoid outbreaks of food-borne illness and contamination of foodstuffs. Food-borne exposure to agricultural and environmental chemicals is of great public concern and, owing to the development of sensitive methods of detection, trace amounts of potentially harmful chemicals can be detected in many foods. Fortunately, the levels of human exposure to these chemicals are generally well below the tolerable daily intakes and the regulatory limits set by international committees. Constant surveillance and monitoring in the use of pesticides is therefore very important. At the EU level, intensive action has been taken to rebuild confidence in the European food supply chain by means the publication of a White Paper on Food Safety and the development of a legislation establishing “from farm to table” criteria. If the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture led to increased world food production, residues of these chemicals and their metabolites have resulted in food commodities, water and soil. The persistence of pesticides in the environment is not well understood, yet, while their acute toxicity has been proven in many cases. The way in which governments regulate food safety and environmental protection, including pesticide residue levels, has important implications for international trade. In particular, EU and Italian legislation imposed stringent residue limits for pesticides in foodstuffs to guarantee consumer’s health. Consequently, there is a growing interest from governmental agencies and private laboratories to improve the performances of analytical methods for pesticide residue determination, increasing their efficiency and lowering cost and time of analysis. Sensitive multiresidue methods - enabling the determination of as many pesticides as possible, with the least analytical steps - need therefore to be developed. The aim of this study was to determinate 27 organophosphorus pesticide (OP) residues (at ppb level) in commercial cereals and other products of their grinding. The method foresees a preliminary liquid-liquid extraction followed by a clean-up step using alumina as adsorbent. The determination of OP residues was performed by GC-NPD, while positive samples were confirmed by GC-MS. Due to the complexity of the studied matrices, the cleaning-up step was crucial; in fact this step was necessary to reduce matrix interferences on the chromatographic separation. To remove interfering high molecular weight components (e.g. proteins, lipids, cellulose) from different food samples prior to a chromatographic separation, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is frequently used. In our study a different approach was followed purifying organic extracts on alumina columns. The method was successfully applied to the determination of OP pesticides in 134 cereal samples (wheat, bran, fine bran, maize, flour) collected in different Italian regions. No significant traces of the analyzed pesticides were found in the majority of the samples. In five samples on 134 the presence of pyrimifos methyl and chlorpyrifos at very low level was ascertained.
2007
04 Pubblicazione in atti di convegno::04b Atto di convegno in volume
Determinazione di pesticidi organofosforati nei cereali e prodotti derivati / Chiacchierini, Ernesto; BOCCACCI MARIANI, Maurizio; D'Aiuto, Virginia; Preti, Raffaella; Giannetti, Vanessa. - STAMPA. - 1:(2007), pp. 372-377.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/359134
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