Determination of Pesticide Residues in Honey using GC-MS Technique

Abstract

Ten samples of honey (Mountain Honey, Mountain flower honey, Flower honey and Chestnut honey) were analyses for 26 organochlorine, carbamate and orgaphosphorus pesticides residues. An analytical procedure was based on QuEChERS extraction with acetonitrile followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The calibration curves constructed were linear over the range from 0.01-0.25 mlL-1. The correlation coefficient were ≥0.995 for all pesticides standards. The mean recoveries for extractions were 70-125% for lower concentration range (0.02 mg/kg) and 62-135% for the higher concentration range (0.10 mg/kg) for pesticides analysed. Six different pesticides, propham and carbofuran (carbamate pesticides), methyl parathion, dichlorvos sulfotep and malathion (organophosphate pesticides) were detected in the analysed honeys samples.