This European Standard gives general considerations for the determination of pesticide residues in foods of plant origin.
Each method specified in this European Standard is suitable for identifying and quantifying a definite range of those organohalogen, and/or organophosphorus and/or organonitrogen pesticides which occur as residues in foodstuffs of plant origin.
This European Standard contains the following methods that have been subjected to interlaboratory studies and/or are adopted throughout Europe:
- method M: Extraction with acetone and liquid liquid partition with dichloromethane/light petroleum, if necessary clean-up on Florisil® 1) [1], [2], [3];
- method N: Extraction with acetone, liquid liquid partition with dichloromethane or cyclohexane/ethyl acetate and clean-up with gel permeation and silica gel chromatography [4], [5];
- method P: Extraction with ethyl acetate and, if necessary, clean-up with gel permeation chromatography [6].
The applicability of the three methods M, N and P for residue analysis of organohalogen, organophosphorus and organonitrogen pesticides, respectively, is given for each method.