Comprehensive assessment of clean-up strategies for optimizing an analytical multi-method to determine pesticides and mycotoxins in Brazilian medicinal herbs using QuEChERS-LC-TQ-MS/MS.

The use of medicinal herbs has increased significantly. However, the presence of pesticide residues and mycotoxins in medicinal herbs has generated constant discussion and concern among regulatory agencies. Developing and validating an analytical method for determining pesticides and mycotoxins in medicinal plants is challenging due to the naturally occurring substances in these plants.

Improving analytical performance for pesticides and mycotoxins determination in Brazilian table olives: one extraction and one analysis.

This paper describes an extensive study in which a multiclass QuEChERS based approach was optimized for determination of 150 pesticides and 7 mycotoxins in table olives. Three versions of QuEChERS were evaluated and compared (unbuffered, citrate and acetate buffering). A combination of EMR-Lipid cartridges and liquid nitrogen or freezer freezing out were tested for clean-up of the oily olive extracts.

Commercial yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) produced in South America: Determination of dithiocarbamate residues by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

This work presents an easy and quick miniaturized procedure for the analysis of dithiocarbamates fungicides (DTC), by GC-MS, in yerba mate, an important product in South America. The sample amount, the volume of extracting solvent and acid solution, and the time of hot bath shaking were minimized. A clean-up procedure based on PSA, GCB and MgSO4 was studied in order to improve analytical signal and reduce GC-MS system damage.

Multimycotoxin Determination in Grains: A Comprehensive Study on Method Validation and Assessment of Effectiveness of Controlled Atmosphere Storage in Preventing Mycotoxin Contamination.

Two simple and low-cost QuEChERS approaches were optimized and validated for multimycotoxin determination in grains by UPLC-MS/MS and applied to assess effectiveness of controlled atmosphere (CA) storage in preventing mycotoxin contamination. Common bean, soybean, and maize samples were stored for 6 months. CA treatments were conducted varying O and CO partial pressures, temperatures, and moisture contents of the chambers.

Mycotoxins in wheat flour: occurrence and co-occurrence assessment in samples from Southern Brazil.

The goal of this survey was to evaluate the presence and concentration as well as the co-occurrence of legislated and non-legislated mycotoxins in wheat flour samples from Brazil. A total of 200 wheat flour samples were analysed by a validated multi-mycotoxins method. DON was the mycotoxin with the highest occurrence, being present in 100% of the analysed samples and showing contamination in both years and regions (53-2905 μg kg).