Rapid and reliable detection of glyphosate in pome fruits, berries, pulses and cereals by flow injection - Mass spectrometry

Abstract

A flow injection - mass spectrometry method for rapid glyphosate detection in food commodities was developed and validated. The sample preparation protocol included a simple and rapid extract purification step through polymeric solid phase extraction cartridges followed by addition of isotopically labeled glyphosate to the final test sample. The optimized method was subjected to intra-laboratory validation (spiking range 0.5-100 mg/kg) in chickpeas, grapes and apples, as representatives of three different commodity groups as defined in SANTE/11813/2017 guidelines. Recoveries were in the range 60-111%, repeatability and within laboratory reproducibility were ≤17%.The trueness of the results generated with the developed method was evaluated by analysis of a set of incurred chickpea and wheat samples (glyphosate range 0.5-36 mg/kg) and comparison with the reference method (Quick Polar Pesticides Method), confirming the method fitness-for-purpose of rapid compliance testing.

Keywords: Food safety; Glyphosate; Mass spectrometry; Polar pesticides; Rapid detection.