Alternative QuEChERS-based modular approach for pesticide residue analysis in food of animal origin.

The approach for pesticide residue analysis in food of animal origin differs strongly from the one established for food of plant origin, as laboratories mainly focus on conventional methods for the analysis of non-polar pesticides known to accumulate in fatty tissues. However, these group-specific methods are very laborious and cost intensive and typically require extraction of fat components followed by extensive clean-up steps to remove matrix constituents. This work highlights the development and validation of a straightforward QuEChERS-derived clean-up procedure enabling facile, precise, and reliable identification and quantitation of pesticide residues in food of animal origin, which can be extended to various other commodities with moderate fat content and applied to replace traditional group-specific methods.