Determination and Dietary Intake Risk Assessment of Pesticide Residues in Fritillariae Thunbergii Bulbs and Cultivated Soils

Abstract

Background: Pesticide residues in traditional Chinese medicines pose a potential risk to human health. However, little is known about the characteristics of pesticide residues in the fritillariae thunbergii bulbs (FTB).

Objective: This study aims to establish a method for the determination of pesticide multi-residues in FTB and then measured their residual levels in the FTB collected from nine cultivation regions.

Methods: A modified QuEChERS method coupled with GC/UPLC was used to determine the residues of 24 pesticides in the FTB and soil samples.

Results: The recoveries of these pesticides at three concentrations were 72.17-112.48% in the FTB and 70.92-113.74% in the soil with RSD < 11.83%, and the LOD and LOQ ranged from 0.005-10 μg/kg and 0.011-22 μg/kg, respectively. A total of 13 pesticide residues were detected in the FTB samples with the residual levels of 0.0011-509.63 μg/kg, which were all below the referred MRLs in other Chinese herbs or food. Meanwhile, dietary intake risk assessment showed that the risk of pesticide residues in the FTB was acceptable to consumers.

Conclusions: This study developed a method for the determination of pesticide multi-residues in the FTB and cultivated soil samples, and furthermore the dietary intake risk of pesticide residues in the FTB is safe.

Highlights: A modified QuEChERS method was established for the determination of 24 pesticides in the FTB with high sensitivity, accuracy, and precision.