Upcoming US and European regulations will limit pesticide residue levels to just 0.01mg/kg, representing significant analytical challenges for environmental and toxicology laboratories
Thermo Electron announces the development of new GC applications for the accurate analysis of pesticide residues using the Trace GC Ultra.
These methods assist compliance with the strict legislation proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Code of Federal Regulations and the European Commission (EC) Directives which aim to minimise pesticide residue levels in food products.
The proposed legislation decrees maximum residue levels (MRL) of 0.01mg/kg or less, representing significant analytical challenges for environmental and toxicology laboratories, as well as government agencies that need an accurate method of detecting these minimal levels of pesticide residues.
In the first application, Thermo Trace GC Ultra utilises a patented large volume splitless (LV-SL) technique, which allows the operator to analyse residual pesticides in food with a thirty-times sensitivity increase over traditional methods, says Thermo.
With this technique, detectability in trace analysis is considerably enhanced and determination of strictest MRL of 0.01mg/kg possible.
Another critical application is the control of organo-phosphorous pesticides (OPPs), for example in olive oil.
OPPs are well known to cause irreversible effects on the nervous system; therefore, their possible presence as trace residues in food must be strictly monitored.
Thermo's Trace GC Ultra facilitates a gas chromatographic technique using programmable temperature vaporising (PTV) injection and a flame photometric detector (FPD).
Combined with a backflush option, sensitive monitoring can now be increased by four orders of magnitude simply through the injection of a more concentrated sample, says the company.
This combination also enables much faster analysis as there is no requirement for complete elution.
Sample preparation time is also shortened, and the column's lifetime significantly extended.
