Cherries are popular fruits due to their health benefits, organoleptic quality, and attractive appearance. Since highly polar pesticides are of low mass and amphoteric character, and are not amenable to traditional multi-residue extraction methods, they are more commonly not included in the pesticide monitoring program. This study aims to determine twelve highly polar pesticide residues in cherry samples intended for export from Turkey. A total of 16,022 cherry samples from 2018−2020 harvests in four production areas of Turkey were analyzed using a modification of the Quick Polar Pesticides method and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The method was validated at two fortification levels (0.01 and 0.05 mg kg−1), and good recoveries (87.4−111.4%) and relative standard deviations (<6%) were achieved for all analytes. The limits of quantification were in the range of 1.08−2.55 μg kg−1. Overall, 28.4% of the analyzed cherry samples were detected with phosphonic acid, calculated as fosetyl aluminium (fosetyl-Al) in amounts up to 77.7 mg kg−1. For 2304 samples (14.4%), the residues exceeded the European Union maximum residue level of 2 mg kg−1. There is no reason to be concerned about long-term exposure to phosphonic acid/fosetyl-Al, and the other highly polar pesticides through the consumption of sweet cherry.
Keywords: analytical method validation; chromatography; food safety; mass spectrometry; polar pesticides; risk assessment.