Significant reduction of concentration of some pesticide residues and substantial increase of the uncertainty of the results derived from the homogenization of sample materials have been reported in scientific papers long ago. Nevertheless, performance of methods is frequently evaluated on the basis of only recovery tests, which exclude sample processing. We studied the effect of sample processing on accuracy and uncertainty of the measured residue values with lettuce, tomato, and maize grain samples applying mixtures of selected pesticides. The results indicate that the method is simple and robust and applicable in any pesticide residue laboratory. The analytes remaining in the final extract are influenced by their physical-chemical properties, the nature of the sample material, the temperature of comminution of sample, and the mass of test portion extracted. Consequently, validation protocols should include testing the effect of sample processing, and the performance of the complete method should be regularly checked within internal quality control.
Keywords: internal quality control; method validation; pesticide residues; stability of pesticide residues; uncertainty of pesticide residue results.